John Edwards, I don’t really have anything to say about John Edwards, the most inevitable choice of a running mate since GeeDubya asked Dick Cheney to find him the best possible veep.
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Monday, July 05, 2004
Smacking law chaos
The House of Lords refuses to ban child abuse altogether, allowing “a light tap.” London Times headline: “Police Warn of Smacking Law Chaos.” Indeed, by refusing a ban on violence, they have created an impractically fine line between permissible and illegal: causing bruises and cuts is a crime, but reddening of the skin is only a problem if not transitory.
The Chinese are “re-educating” the doctor who broke the conspiracy of silence on SARS.
Indonesia has held its first vote ever for the office of the president. A general, one Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, evidently a living sound effect, is in the lead, but will have to face a run-off against either another general (the war criminal Wiranto) or the daughter of a dictator. A little unclear on the concept of democracy, the Indonesians.
The Chinese are “re-educating” the doctor who broke the conspiracy of silence on SARS.
Indonesia has held its first vote ever for the office of the president. A general, one Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, evidently a living sound effect, is in the lead, but will have to face a run-off against either another general (the war criminal Wiranto) or the daughter of a dictator. A little unclear on the concept of democracy, the Indonesians.
Sunday, July 04, 2004
Limited smacking
A beauty contest for goats in Croatia, because even Croatian goat-herders need love. No picture of the winner.
Sir Jeremy Greenstock, who may have the most English English accent ever, has actually admitted that he was wrong to assert before the war that Saddam Hussein had huge stockpiles of WMDs. “We were wrong on the stockpiles; we were right on the intention,” he now says. Saddam was indicted for these thought crimes last week. The problem with this “right on the intention” argument is that it paints him as so incompetent--not a single vial of anthrax, not even a teeny bit of yellowcake in spite of his intentions--that he must have been even less of a threat.
There must be a good segue between that item and the next, which is the ongoing debate in Britain over child-beating. Some people are now advocating a compromise, known as “limited smacking,” which in Victorian times was known as “reasonable chastisement” (and applied to wives as well). Reasonable chastisement still exists in law as a defense for causing your children actual harm; the limited smacking approach would remove this as a defense. In a choice of language that might make the Brits think about their child-rearing practices, a ban on smacking would be attacked as redolent of the “nanny state.” And the parties are allowing MPs a free vote, in a procedure known as “removing the whip.”
The real military danger in Iraq may be in the Coca Cola cans, which turn out to be better equipped than the Iraqi army ever was. There is a promotion, and some Coke cans have GPS devices and mobile phones, which the Pentagon worries could be used to track soldiers down, or which soldiers could use to listen in on their superiors. Here’s a sentence you never expected to see in a news story--or maybe you did: “The Coca-Cola company said the prize cans posed no threat to national security.”
Sir Jeremy Greenstock, who may have the most English English accent ever, has actually admitted that he was wrong to assert before the war that Saddam Hussein had huge stockpiles of WMDs. “We were wrong on the stockpiles; we were right on the intention,” he now says. Saddam was indicted for these thought crimes last week. The problem with this “right on the intention” argument is that it paints him as so incompetent--not a single vial of anthrax, not even a teeny bit of yellowcake in spite of his intentions--that he must have been even less of a threat.
There must be a good segue between that item and the next, which is the ongoing debate in Britain over child-beating. Some people are now advocating a compromise, known as “limited smacking,” which in Victorian times was known as “reasonable chastisement” (and applied to wives as well). Reasonable chastisement still exists in law as a defense for causing your children actual harm; the limited smacking approach would remove this as a defense. In a choice of language that might make the Brits think about their child-rearing practices, a ban on smacking would be attacked as redolent of the “nanny state.” And the parties are allowing MPs a free vote, in a procedure known as “removing the whip.”
The real military danger in Iraq may be in the Coca Cola cans, which turn out to be better equipped than the Iraqi army ever was. There is a promotion, and some Coke cans have GPS devices and mobile phones, which the Pentagon worries could be used to track soldiers down, or which soldiers could use to listen in on their superiors. Here’s a sentence you never expected to see in a news story--or maybe you did: “The Coca-Cola company said the prize cans posed no threat to national security.”
Why couldn't they be both?
A website which asks the burning question, dogtoy, or marital aid?
The Pentagon still hasn’t admitted that it was a wedding it bombed in May.
Be sure to read this WaPo piece on how we’re spending Iraqi funds like drunken sailors for “reconstruction” projects that were supposed to be paid for by funds voted by Congress, of which only 2% have been spent. There needs to be a name--other than looting, I mean--for this variant on Keynesianism, where another country’s money is spent keeping Americans in employment at twenty times the wages Iraqis would do the same job for (and the Iraqis wouldn’t require quite as much security). The details in the article are what make it so infuriating. Much of the Iraqi money was quickly earmarked in the last weeks of the Bremer viceroyalty, so that the feckless natives wouldn’t get their hands on it.
The Pentagon still hasn’t admitted that it was a wedding it bombed in May.
Be sure to read this WaPo piece on how we’re spending Iraqi funds like drunken sailors for “reconstruction” projects that were supposed to be paid for by funds voted by Congress, of which only 2% have been spent. There needs to be a name--other than looting, I mean--for this variant on Keynesianism, where another country’s money is spent keeping Americans in employment at twenty times the wages Iraqis would do the same job for (and the Iraqis wouldn’t require quite as much security). The details in the article are what make it so infuriating. Much of the Iraqi money was quickly earmarked in the last weeks of the Bremer viceroyalty, so that the feckless natives wouldn’t get their hands on it.
Saturday, July 03, 2004
A bit of meat
The NYT quotes Cheney at a campaign rally, saying of Kerry, “His big idea for cheering up the country? Raise your taxes.” Who knew Cheney was so concerned with cheering up the country?
The British mother of a soldier killed in Iraq says that Tony Blair thought of her son as just “a bit of meat.” And considering the awful things the Brits do to meat....
According to an Indy headline, members of the British House of Lords have been “Given Free Vote on Smacking.” Yes please, they vote. Actually, it’s about child-beating, which they call smacking, like they call elevators lifts, soccer football, etc.
The British mother of a soldier killed in Iraq says that Tony Blair thought of her son as just “a bit of meat.” And considering the awful things the Brits do to meat....
According to an Indy headline, members of the British House of Lords have been “Given Free Vote on Smacking.” Yes please, they vote. Actually, it’s about child-beating, which they call smacking, like they call elevators lifts, soccer football, etc.
Who says theater is dead?
Robert Fisk reports that US military officers censored coverage of the hearings of Saddam et al, destroying video of Saddam wearing chains. Initial reports that the judge wanted no recordings made were lies by those Americans. That you heard any of it was due to cameramen saying that they were complying with orders not to record sound, and then recording sound. The military was able to censor the words “this is theatre - Bush is the real criminal.”
Speaking of theatre, the LA Times reports, a little late, that it was an American Marine colonel who decided to topple that Saddam statue. (My previous comments on the statue thing are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.)
Speaking of theatre, the LA Times reports, a little late, that it was an American Marine colonel who decided to topple that Saddam statue. (My previous comments on the statue thing are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.)
Friday, July 02, 2004
Rightful owners
Robert Fisk, in a good piece about the out of town (well, undisclosed location) try-outs of the Saddam show trial, says that the unnamed judge presiding over Saddam is the same judge who accused Sadr of murder in April. And he wasn’t very good, either: he was trying to put Saddam in his place, but Saddam had him for breakfast.
The next several items all come from a Dana Milbank WaPo story on how Bushies are claiming we’re actually safer now.
Cheney: “After decades of rule by a brutal dictator, Iraq has been returned to its rightful owners, the people of Iraq.” Isn’t “owner” an odd and telling word?
Rumsfeld makes another claim to have found WMDs; his story is that Polish troops found a whole bunch of warheads with sarin and mustard gas--not that they’ve been tested or anything. So low is Rumsfeld’s credibility, or the credibility of any Bushie on the WMD/terrorism issue, that it makes it into the 8th paragraph of a WaPo story on p.12. Like I said about Ashcroft and the plot to blow up a mall in... Ohio, was it?...they feel they have to print it, and can’t quite bring themselves to say, “Just ignore this story,” so they give it one 10,000th of the play it would get if they believed it (heard anything else about that mall plot?). The funny thing is, Rummy himself is equally off-hand about what would be a big discovery if anyone believed it: he announced it on a San Diego radio station (transcript).
(Later:) yup, the story was another lie.
And Cheney made up yet another connection between Iraq and Al Qaida, which no one has ever heard of before, something about one Iraqi training AQ in Sudan more than 10 years ago.
Condi says that we are in fact safer than before 9/11, which polls show most Americans do not believe, although it’s not a high standard, considering that before 9/11, we were in danger from, well, the events of 9/11. Which by definition is not very safe.
The British government announced that ambulances making emergency calls will no longer be given speeding tickets. And yes, that really was a problem.
The next several items all come from a Dana Milbank WaPo story on how Bushies are claiming we’re actually safer now.
Cheney: “After decades of rule by a brutal dictator, Iraq has been returned to its rightful owners, the people of Iraq.” Isn’t “owner” an odd and telling word?
Rumsfeld makes another claim to have found WMDs; his story is that Polish troops found a whole bunch of warheads with sarin and mustard gas--not that they’ve been tested or anything. So low is Rumsfeld’s credibility, or the credibility of any Bushie on the WMD/terrorism issue, that it makes it into the 8th paragraph of a WaPo story on p.12. Like I said about Ashcroft and the plot to blow up a mall in... Ohio, was it?...they feel they have to print it, and can’t quite bring themselves to say, “Just ignore this story,” so they give it one 10,000th of the play it would get if they believed it (heard anything else about that mall plot?). The funny thing is, Rummy himself is equally off-hand about what would be a big discovery if anyone believed it: he announced it on a San Diego radio station (transcript).
(Later:) yup, the story was another lie.
And Cheney made up yet another connection between Iraq and Al Qaida, which no one has ever heard of before, something about one Iraqi training AQ in Sudan more than 10 years ago.
Condi says that we are in fact safer than before 9/11, which polls show most Americans do not believe, although it’s not a high standard, considering that before 9/11, we were in danger from, well, the events of 9/11. Which by definition is not very safe.
The British government announced that ambulances making emergency calls will no longer be given speeding tickets. And yes, that really was a problem.
Making money the old-fashioned way
Not to bite the hand that's giving me free blog-hosting or anything, but my first post's reference to Saddam's claim that Kuwait wished to reduce Iraqi women to "ten-dinar prostitutes" generated the google ad "Buy Iraq Dinar Currency, Make Money Invest In Iraq's Rapid Growth!" Uh, sure, but don't spend it all on one hooker.
Thursday, July 01, 2004
Ten dinar prostitutes
A NYT editorial on Pentagon stonewalling on Abu Ghraib, including the 2,000 pages of the Taguba report still “missing,” lies by Rummy et al that the International Red Cross isn’t letting them release its reports, and other stuff that should really have been reported in the news section of the paper instead of op/ed.
Ashcroft comments that “The Supreme Court accorded to terrorists, in a variety of cases this week, a number of additional rights”. Additional to zero? The attorney general here shows an ignorance of the function of the judicial branch. The Supreme Court does not “accord” rights; those rights are already there, in the Constitution.
Qatar sentences those 2 Russian spies to life for car-bombing a former president of Chechnya in February.
I hope if Kerry is elected, he won’t be bogged down by a long heresy trial.
Saddam is, what, indicted, by an American-appointed court operating under American rules with American advisors to both the judges and prosecutors, along with 11 other officials (or “henchmen” as they are being called in the interests of neutrality, John O'Farrell says in a funny Guardian piece) and a ham sandwich, which was charged with being unIslamic. Can you say show trial? It was timed for American tv; American networks were allowed in but no Iraqi reporters (one had showed up, but was ordered to leave). In other words, we were watching yet another Bush campaign ad. I’m surprised it wasn’t conducted in English. O’Farrell comments, “The west's biggest baddie could have been tried by a democratic Iraqi regime, but that might have meant waiting until after the American elections.” He also notes that while Hussein is charged with invading Kuwait, nowhere is there mention of his invasion of Iran, with US encouragement.
The highlight was when Saddam said that he invaded Kuwait to prevent “those Kuwaiti dogs” reducing Iraqi women into 10-dinar prostitutes. Reducing from how much? American troops want to know. And what do dogs need prostitutes for anyway? Maybe the 10 dinars is just for leg-humping. Again, American troops want to know.
This was good for the Iraqi puppet government as well, because the way to establish your bona fides from the gitgo is not to say, announce a jobs program, but to piss on the former ruler and cut off his head. I’m pretty sure that’s how FDR did it.
The quotes from the hearing in news stories simply do not capture the hilarious tone of the proceedings. Here’s a transcript, from the Indy (note that the judge has no name, and this is not an accident--transparent justice at its finest):
The Judge opened proceedings by asking Saddam for his name:
SADDAM: ...Hussein Majid, the president of the Republic of Iraq.
The judge then asks his date of birth
SADDAM: 1937.
[Somewhere in here, the judge asked his address. Saddam may not know where he currently resides--Robert Fisk thinks Qatar--but answered “I live in each Iraqi’s house.”]
JUDGE: Profession? Former president of the Republic of Iraq?
SADDAM: No, present. Current. It's the will of the people.
JUDGE: The head of the Baath Party that is dissolved, defunct. Former commander and chief of the army. Residence is Iraq. Your mother's name?
SADDAM: Sobha. You also have to introduce yourself to me
JUDGE: Mr Saddam, I am the investigative judge of the central court of Iraq.
SADDAM: So that I have to know, you are an investigative judge of the central court of Iraq? What resolution, what law formed this court?
The judge's response could not be heard.
SADDAM: Oh, the coalition forces? So you are an Iraqi that - you are representing the occupying forces?
JUDGE: No, I'm an Iraqi representing Iraq.
SADDAM: But you are...
JUDGE: I was appointed by a presidential decree under the former regime.
SADDAM: So you are reiterating that every Iraqi should respect the Iraqi law. So the law that was instituted before represents the will of the people, right?
JUDGE: Yes, God willing.
SADDAM: So you should not work under the jurisdiction of the coalition forces.
JUDGE: This is an important point. I am a judge. In the former regime, I respect the judges. And I am resuming and continuing my work.
SADDAM: So, please let me - I'm not complicating matters. Are you a judge? You are a judge? And judges, they value the law. And they rule by the law, right? Right? Right is a relative issue. For us, right is our heritage in the Koran, sharia, right? I am not talking about Saddam Hussein, whether he was a citizen or in other capacities. I'm not holding fast to my position, but to respect the will of the people that decided to choose Saddam Hussein as the leader of the revolution. Therefore, when I say president of the Republic of Iraq, it's not a formality or a holding fast to a position, but rather to reiterate to the Iraqi people that I respect its will.
JUDGE: If there is evidence, then I'll defer it to a court of jurisdiction.
SADDAM: Let me understand something. Who is the defendant? Any defendant when he comes to a court, before that there should be investigation.
JUDGE: I'm investigating, interrogating you. Second, the president is a profession, is a position, is a deputy of the society. That's true. And originally, inherently, he's a citizen. And every citizen, according to the law in the constitution, if this person violates a law has to come before the law. And that law you know more than I do. So the crimes, the charges: intended killing by using chemical weapons in Halabjah.
SADDAM: No.
JUDGE: Second, intended killing of a great number of Iraqis in 1983. Three, intended killing of a number of members of political parties without trials. Fourth, intended killing of many of the Iraqi religious people. Fifth, intended killing of many Iraqis in Anfal without any evidence against it.
Details of the sixth charge are not picked up
JUDGE: The seventh charge was against Saddam Hussein as president of the republic and the commander-in-chief of the army. And the army went to Kuwait.
SADDAM: Even though this was not an invasion. Will the law judge Saddam Hussein because he defends Iraq?
Saddam refers to Kuwaitis as "dogs".
JUDGE: You are in a legal hearing and we will not allow you to speak in any way that is disrespectful to this court.
SADDAM: Then in the formal capacity, is it permissible to charge an official title? And the person is to be dealt with in violation of the guarantees that are afforded by the constitution. This is the law that you're using to use against me now.
JUDGE: I would like you to sign these documents formally, and this will go into the record. Answer to those charges. This is investigation. Answer. If you read the minutes, we say that we postpone the investigation.
SADDAM: Then please allow me not to sign anything until the lawyers are present.
JUDGE: That is fine. But this is your...
SADDAM: I speak for myself.
JUDGE: Yes, as a citizen you have the right. But the guarantees you have to sign because these were read to you, recited to you.
SADDAM: Anyway, why are you worried? I will come again before you with the presence of the lawyers, and you will be giving me all of these documents again. So why should we rush any action now and make mistakes because of rushed and hasty decisions or actions?
JUDGE: No, this is not a hasty decision-making now. I'm just investigating. And we need to conclude and seal the minutes.
SADDAM: No, I will sign when the lawyers are present.
JUDGE: Then you can leave.
SADDAM: Finished?
JUDGE: Yes.
Ashcroft comments that “The Supreme Court accorded to terrorists, in a variety of cases this week, a number of additional rights”. Additional to zero? The attorney general here shows an ignorance of the function of the judicial branch. The Supreme Court does not “accord” rights; those rights are already there, in the Constitution.
Qatar sentences those 2 Russian spies to life for car-bombing a former president of Chechnya in February.
I hope if Kerry is elected, he won’t be bogged down by a long heresy trial.
Saddam is, what, indicted, by an American-appointed court operating under American rules with American advisors to both the judges and prosecutors, along with 11 other officials (or “henchmen” as they are being called in the interests of neutrality, John O'Farrell says in a funny Guardian piece) and a ham sandwich, which was charged with being unIslamic. Can you say show trial? It was timed for American tv; American networks were allowed in but no Iraqi reporters (one had showed up, but was ordered to leave). In other words, we were watching yet another Bush campaign ad. I’m surprised it wasn’t conducted in English. O’Farrell comments, “The west's biggest baddie could have been tried by a democratic Iraqi regime, but that might have meant waiting until after the American elections.” He also notes that while Hussein is charged with invading Kuwait, nowhere is there mention of his invasion of Iran, with US encouragement.
The highlight was when Saddam said that he invaded Kuwait to prevent “those Kuwaiti dogs” reducing Iraqi women into 10-dinar prostitutes. Reducing from how much? American troops want to know. And what do dogs need prostitutes for anyway? Maybe the 10 dinars is just for leg-humping. Again, American troops want to know.
This was good for the Iraqi puppet government as well, because the way to establish your bona fides from the gitgo is not to say, announce a jobs program, but to piss on the former ruler and cut off his head. I’m pretty sure that’s how FDR did it.
The quotes from the hearing in news stories simply do not capture the hilarious tone of the proceedings. Here’s a transcript, from the Indy (note that the judge has no name, and this is not an accident--transparent justice at its finest):
The Judge opened proceedings by asking Saddam for his name:
SADDAM: ...Hussein Majid, the president of the Republic of Iraq.
The judge then asks his date of birth
SADDAM: 1937.
[Somewhere in here, the judge asked his address. Saddam may not know where he currently resides--Robert Fisk thinks Qatar--but answered “I live in each Iraqi’s house.”]
JUDGE: Profession? Former president of the Republic of Iraq?
SADDAM: No, present. Current. It's the will of the people.
JUDGE: The head of the Baath Party that is dissolved, defunct. Former commander and chief of the army. Residence is Iraq. Your mother's name?
SADDAM: Sobha. You also have to introduce yourself to me
JUDGE: Mr Saddam, I am the investigative judge of the central court of Iraq.
SADDAM: So that I have to know, you are an investigative judge of the central court of Iraq? What resolution, what law formed this court?
The judge's response could not be heard.
SADDAM: Oh, the coalition forces? So you are an Iraqi that - you are representing the occupying forces?
JUDGE: No, I'm an Iraqi representing Iraq.
SADDAM: But you are...
JUDGE: I was appointed by a presidential decree under the former regime.
SADDAM: So you are reiterating that every Iraqi should respect the Iraqi law. So the law that was instituted before represents the will of the people, right?
JUDGE: Yes, God willing.
SADDAM: So you should not work under the jurisdiction of the coalition forces.
JUDGE: This is an important point. I am a judge. In the former regime, I respect the judges. And I am resuming and continuing my work.
SADDAM: So, please let me - I'm not complicating matters. Are you a judge? You are a judge? And judges, they value the law. And they rule by the law, right? Right? Right is a relative issue. For us, right is our heritage in the Koran, sharia, right? I am not talking about Saddam Hussein, whether he was a citizen or in other capacities. I'm not holding fast to my position, but to respect the will of the people that decided to choose Saddam Hussein as the leader of the revolution. Therefore, when I say president of the Republic of Iraq, it's not a formality or a holding fast to a position, but rather to reiterate to the Iraqi people that I respect its will.
JUDGE: If there is evidence, then I'll defer it to a court of jurisdiction.
SADDAM: Let me understand something. Who is the defendant? Any defendant when he comes to a court, before that there should be investigation.
JUDGE: I'm investigating, interrogating you. Second, the president is a profession, is a position, is a deputy of the society. That's true. And originally, inherently, he's a citizen. And every citizen, according to the law in the constitution, if this person violates a law has to come before the law. And that law you know more than I do. So the crimes, the charges: intended killing by using chemical weapons in Halabjah.
SADDAM: No.
JUDGE: Second, intended killing of a great number of Iraqis in 1983. Three, intended killing of a number of members of political parties without trials. Fourth, intended killing of many of the Iraqi religious people. Fifth, intended killing of many Iraqis in Anfal without any evidence against it.
Details of the sixth charge are not picked up
JUDGE: The seventh charge was against Saddam Hussein as president of the republic and the commander-in-chief of the army. And the army went to Kuwait.
SADDAM: Even though this was not an invasion. Will the law judge Saddam Hussein because he defends Iraq?
Saddam refers to Kuwaitis as "dogs".
JUDGE: You are in a legal hearing and we will not allow you to speak in any way that is disrespectful to this court.
SADDAM: Then in the formal capacity, is it permissible to charge an official title? And the person is to be dealt with in violation of the guarantees that are afforded by the constitution. This is the law that you're using to use against me now.
JUDGE: I would like you to sign these documents formally, and this will go into the record. Answer to those charges. This is investigation. Answer. If you read the minutes, we say that we postpone the investigation.
SADDAM: Then please allow me not to sign anything until the lawyers are present.
JUDGE: That is fine. But this is your...
SADDAM: I speak for myself.
JUDGE: Yes, as a citizen you have the right. But the guarantees you have to sign because these were read to you, recited to you.
SADDAM: Anyway, why are you worried? I will come again before you with the presence of the lawyers, and you will be giving me all of these documents again. So why should we rush any action now and make mistakes because of rushed and hasty decisions or actions?
JUDGE: No, this is not a hasty decision-making now. I'm just investigating. And we need to conclude and seal the minutes.
SADDAM: No, I will sign when the lawyers are present.
JUDGE: Then you can leave.
SADDAM: Finished?
JUDGE: Yes.
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Or maybe he was just trying to order some freedom fries
Bush’s “let freedom reign” doodle is niggling at me. As a phrase, I don’t know what it means: freedom isn’t something that reigns. To a large extent, freedom is about carving out spaces where larger structures do not reign. I smell something religious in the phrase but I can’t pin it down. In my last, I quoted a Guardian writer saying the phrase showed Bush’s image of himself as a George Washington leading subject peoples to liberty. It’s hard to tell what his self-image actually is. Even a simpleton--and a highly unreflective simpleton--like GeeDubya, but really anyone who has to campaign for high office, making endless speeches about their own virtues, and then living out life pretending to be president, being on tv a lot, seeing posters of himself and so on, well, their ego and self-image develop an architecture of a complexity the rest of us simply do not have.
It’s unclear to me how he envisions the “liberty” to which he plans to bring, if not the world, at least the entire Middle East. He uses the word democracy, but it ain’t that. He has no interest in elections, representative government, the rule of law, etc in this country, so he certainly doesn’t plan to bring that to the Arabic (and Persian) peoples; the contempt for “nation-building” he evinced during the 2000 campaign is still intact. Possibly he intones the sacred words--freedom, democracy--without envisioning anything, abstract thought not being his strong suit. But I suspect he sees it as some sort of conversion experience, where the removal of tyrannical rulers transforms their liberated subjects in the same way he claims his decision to stop drinking and come to Jesus transformed him.
OK, I’ve just googled “let freedom reign,” and there are an odd assortment of sites indeed, 3,140 of them. It’s a phrase mostly used by right wingers of various persuasions, for sure, and it still sounds to me like people misheard the last words of that song with the terrible lyrics and bad grammar sung to the tune of God Save the Queen, but I don’t think this is an innocent phrase.
Still more googling shows that many people, presumably not right-wingers, wrongly think Martin Luther King used “let freedom reign” rather than “ring” in the I Have a Dream Speech. And really, you don’t want to know how many people think he said “let freedom rain.”
It’s unclear to me how he envisions the “liberty” to which he plans to bring, if not the world, at least the entire Middle East. He uses the word democracy, but it ain’t that. He has no interest in elections, representative government, the rule of law, etc in this country, so he certainly doesn’t plan to bring that to the Arabic (and Persian) peoples; the contempt for “nation-building” he evinced during the 2000 campaign is still intact. Possibly he intones the sacred words--freedom, democracy--without envisioning anything, abstract thought not being his strong suit. But I suspect he sees it as some sort of conversion experience, where the removal of tyrannical rulers transforms their liberated subjects in the same way he claims his decision to stop drinking and come to Jesus transformed him.
OK, I’ve just googled “let freedom reign,” and there are an odd assortment of sites indeed, 3,140 of them. It’s a phrase mostly used by right wingers of various persuasions, for sure, and it still sounds to me like people misheard the last words of that song with the terrible lyrics and bad grammar sung to the tune of God Save the Queen, but I don’t think this is an innocent phrase.
Still more googling shows that many people, presumably not right-wingers, wrongly think Martin Luther King used “let freedom reign” rather than “ring” in the I Have a Dream Speech. And really, you don’t want to know how many people think he said “let freedom rain.”
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Premature Iraqulation
In Turkey, Bush said, “Turkey meets the EU standards for membership. The EU should begin talks that will lead to full membership for the Republic of Turkey.” Chirac tells Bush to butt out.
Wonkette nicely deems the early underhand of sovereignty “Premature Iraqulation.” The media seem to be only mildly embarrassed that they’re using the words “transfer of sovereignty” that the Bush admin put in their mouth, just as they did last year when they talked about the “end of hostilities”, and then the “end of major hostilities”, for months after it was obvious that nothing had ended at all. The media’s stenography habit must end. Even Bush isn’t going to be so stupid--although I’ve been looking back at some of my old emails and no prediction I’ve ever started that way has turned out not to be confounded by Bush’s actual stupidity--as to start in with the “mission accomplished” rhetoric; he’s talking about “freedom” a lot, but that won’t survive Allawi’s determination to impose martial law, even with someone’s else’s military. I suspect the media are so anxious to move on from the Iraq story so they don’t have to pay for expensive campaign coverage and expensive war coverage at the same time that they’ve adopted the Bush admin’s happy-talk exit strategy as their own.
If it were a true handover of power, it would be frightening. Imagine you were going to take a vacation in Hawaii starting Wednesday and were suddenly told on Monday that you had to get to the airport NOW NOW NOW! You’d be in a panic, you’d forget to pack something important, it would be utter chaos. Now running a whole, like, country is probably a bit more involved than a vacation, so if this were real... And don’t look for Bremer to break in the newbies on how to use the xerox machine, he’s already skedaddled.
Owie Allawi said today, “God and truth are with us.” That and a dime’ll get you a cup of coffee. And “we will not forget who stood with us and against us in this crisis.” That’s the sort of talk you like to hear on the first day of “full sovereignty.” And if it sounds familiar, think “you’re either with us or with the terrorists.”
I’m blanking on which columnist (or even which paper, but I think in Monday’s NYT) who wrote that Allawi needs to demonstrate his admin’s independence by picking a fight with the Americans, one he can win. This isn’t independence, this is good cop, bad cop, a farce instantly recognizable as a farce even to Iraqis who haven’t seen an episode of NYPD Blue. And no kabuki display of “independence” can get around the fact, as Robert Fisk puts it, that “Allawi is relying on the one army whose evacuation he needs to prove his own credibility.”
Possibly the WaPo is trying to say something: an article on the reappointment of Christian loon W. David Hager to the FDA panel on reproductive drugs (see the article Dana Milbank piece on the “administration ritual: disavowing the conclusions of official documents.”
Wonkette nicely deems the early underhand of sovereignty “Premature Iraqulation.” The media seem to be only mildly embarrassed that they’re using the words “transfer of sovereignty” that the Bush admin put in their mouth, just as they did last year when they talked about the “end of hostilities”, and then the “end of major hostilities”, for months after it was obvious that nothing had ended at all. The media’s stenography habit must end. Even Bush isn’t going to be so stupid--although I’ve been looking back at some of my old emails and no prediction I’ve ever started that way has turned out not to be confounded by Bush’s actual stupidity--as to start in with the “mission accomplished” rhetoric; he’s talking about “freedom” a lot, but that won’t survive Allawi’s determination to impose martial law, even with someone’s else’s military. I suspect the media are so anxious to move on from the Iraq story so they don’t have to pay for expensive campaign coverage and expensive war coverage at the same time that they’ve adopted the Bush admin’s happy-talk exit strategy as their own.
If it were a true handover of power, it would be frightening. Imagine you were going to take a vacation in Hawaii starting Wednesday and were suddenly told on Monday that you had to get to the airport NOW NOW NOW! You’d be in a panic, you’d forget to pack something important, it would be utter chaos. Now running a whole, like, country is probably a bit more involved than a vacation, so if this were real... And don’t look for Bremer to break in the newbies on how to use the xerox machine, he’s already skedaddled.
Owie Allawi said today, “God and truth are with us.” That and a dime’ll get you a cup of coffee. And “we will not forget who stood with us and against us in this crisis.” That’s the sort of talk you like to hear on the first day of “full sovereignty.” And if it sounds familiar, think “you’re either with us or with the terrorists.”
I’m blanking on which columnist (or even which paper, but I think in Monday’s NYT) who wrote that Allawi needs to demonstrate his admin’s independence by picking a fight with the Americans, one he can win. This isn’t independence, this is good cop, bad cop, a farce instantly recognizable as a farce even to Iraqis who haven’t seen an episode of NYPD Blue. And no kabuki display of “independence” can get around the fact, as Robert Fisk puts it, that “Allawi is relying on the one army whose evacuation he needs to prove his own credibility.”
Possibly the WaPo is trying to say something: an article on the reappointment of Christian loon W. David Hager to the FDA panel on reproductive drugs (see the article Dana Milbank piece on the “administration ritual: disavowing the conclusions of official documents.”
Boldly extending the habeas statute to the four corners of the earth
Paul Krugman quotes Bremer’s aide in imposing free-market capitalism on Iraq talking about the need to educate Iraqi businessmen away from the paradigm of cronyism. That aide: Ari Fleischer’s brother. Cronyism bad, nepotism good?
Actually, Science news, tampering in God’s domain division: the first successful pregnancy after ovary transplants make menopause a thing of the past. Oh fine, and let cancer survivors give birth. Can’t they just fucking adopt?
Evidently, Governor Ahnuuld has not actually switched the capitol’s toilet paper, that was an inside joke between him and a reporter, dating back to the election, when the Gropinator evaded questions about what he was willing to cut until the reporter suggested the tp thing.
The pope apologizes for the sack of Constantinople in 1204 during the 4th Crusade.
OK, Daily Kos has bothered to do the research I didn’t yesterday on the media parroting the Bush line:
Washington Post: “Despite the end of the occupation …”
Knight Ridder: “Iraqis see hope in end of U.S.-led occupation”
Los Angeles Times: “…end of a deeply divisive American-led occupation…”
San Francisco Chronicle: “the U.S.-led military occupation had formally ended…”
Miami Herald: “…ended its occupation of Iraq…”
Associated Press: “…the end of the American occupation …”
Arizona Republic:: “…the 160,000 foreign troops in Iraq were transformed from occupiers into guests of a U.S.-backed government.”
Actually, Science news, tampering in God’s domain division: the first successful pregnancy after ovary transplants make menopause a thing of the past. Oh fine, and let cancer survivors give birth. Can’t they just fucking adopt?
Evidently, Governor Ahnuuld has not actually switched the capitol’s toilet paper, that was an inside joke between him and a reporter, dating back to the election, when the Gropinator evaded questions about what he was willing to cut until the reporter suggested the tp thing.
The pope apologizes for the sack of Constantinople in 1204 during the 4th Crusade.
OK, Daily Kos has bothered to do the research I didn’t yesterday on the media parroting the Bush line:
Washington Post: “Despite the end of the occupation …”
Knight Ridder: “Iraqis see hope in end of U.S.-led occupation”
Los Angeles Times: “…end of a deeply divisive American-led occupation…”
San Francisco Chronicle: “the U.S.-led military occupation had formally ended…”
Miami Herald: “…ended its occupation of Iraq…”
Associated Press: “…the end of the American occupation …”
Arizona Republic:: “…the 160,000 foreign troops in Iraq were transformed from occupiers into guests of a U.S.-backed government.”
Monday, June 28, 2004
Bitter differences
Slate says exactly what I had meant to say yesterday, but forgot during an unusually slow download: “Evidently operating under the assumption that it was his call to make, Bush declared in Ireland yesterday an end to the "bitter differences" between the U.S. and Europe over the Iraq war.”
Bush also used the NATO summit to declare that he was willing to forgive France, Germany and Turkey for their unseemly displays of independence.
Isn’t it insulting when he praises Turkey for being “secular in politics”? They must know that he only finds secularism admirable in non-Christian countries.
And what luck that the Iraqi Resistance captured one of the few Muslim US marines. I’m guessing he’s not going to get the whole-hog Jessica Lynch treatment, but will be quietly ignored until his body and/or head are recovered (by the way, Fahrenheit 9/11 fortuitously has some shots of a public execution by beheading in our good ally Saudi Arabia.)
Something else I forgot to say. A message to Jack Ryan on his having to step down: remember, crying is so unattractive. You twat.
Bremer has issued 97 edicts, and put people into government jobs on long contracts, to impose his ideology on Iraq for years to come. And given that power to others in the future, like an election commission that can simply ban parties and candidates. Edicts include capping taxes at 15%, protecting intellectual property (the occupation government really is a Mickey Mouse outfit), requiring automobile drivers to keep both hands on the wheel and stop honking the fucking horn...
Some of the people Bremer hired are inspectors-general to guard against corruption, or override the puppet government, as the case may be. So it’s ironic that he lost rather a large sum of Iraqi oil money. The stories disagree on the amount, but the word “billion,” possibly in the plural, is involved. Have you checked in all your pockets? Have you checked in all of Halliburton’s pockets?
Bremer has left Iraq, appropriately, like a thief in the night, quite possibly in the trunk of a car like Chalabi did when he fled Jordan. Bremer “handed over sovereignty” two days early because he has done such a terrible job that any ceremony would have been blowed up, which tends to look bad on CNN.
I can’t seem to get the video at this site of Bush’s interview with Irish tv, which I gather is a hoot and possibly a holler. The connection keeps dropping, and has for 2 days now. Maybe your luck will be better (link below). Hasn’t shown on CSPAN either, and no transcript that I know of. The embassy made an official protest that the interviewer was rude to Mr. Sensitive. And they cancelled an interview with Laura Bush. Possibly at some time in the future, Bush will declare the end to his bitter differences with Irish state television.
Bush also used the NATO summit to declare that he was willing to forgive France, Germany and Turkey for their unseemly displays of independence.
Isn’t it insulting when he praises Turkey for being “secular in politics”? They must know that he only finds secularism admirable in non-Christian countries.
And what luck that the Iraqi Resistance captured one of the few Muslim US marines. I’m guessing he’s not going to get the whole-hog Jessica Lynch treatment, but will be quietly ignored until his body and/or head are recovered (by the way, Fahrenheit 9/11 fortuitously has some shots of a public execution by beheading in our good ally Saudi Arabia.)
Something else I forgot to say. A message to Jack Ryan on his having to step down: remember, crying is so unattractive. You twat.
Bremer has issued 97 edicts, and put people into government jobs on long contracts, to impose his ideology on Iraq for years to come. And given that power to others in the future, like an election commission that can simply ban parties and candidates. Edicts include capping taxes at 15%, protecting intellectual property (the occupation government really is a Mickey Mouse outfit), requiring automobile drivers to keep both hands on the wheel and stop honking the fucking horn...
Some of the people Bremer hired are inspectors-general to guard against corruption, or override the puppet government, as the case may be. So it’s ironic that he lost rather a large sum of Iraqi oil money. The stories disagree on the amount, but the word “billion,” possibly in the plural, is involved. Have you checked in all your pockets? Have you checked in all of Halliburton’s pockets?
Bremer has left Iraq, appropriately, like a thief in the night, quite possibly in the trunk of a car like Chalabi did when he fled Jordan. Bremer “handed over sovereignty” two days early because he has done such a terrible job that any ceremony would have been blowed up, which tends to look bad on CNN.
I can’t seem to get the video at this site of Bush’s interview with Irish tv, which I gather is a hoot and possibly a holler. The connection keeps dropping, and has for 2 days now. Maybe your luck will be better (link below). Hasn’t shown on CSPAN either, and no transcript that I know of. The embassy made an official protest that the interviewer was rude to Mr. Sensitive. And they cancelled an interview with Laura Bush. Possibly at some time in the future, Bush will declare the end to his bitter differences with Irish state television.
Saturday, June 26, 2004
Nothing contrived in what he said
You can’t judge by the Bay Area, but Fahrenheit 9/11 may be quite the little phenomenon. I didn’t expect a long line for the 4:30 show, but there it was, with the 7:00 already sold out, and this mind you at just 1 of the 3 theaters within a 5-mile radius showing it on 4 screens. I felt like I was on line for a Star Wars movie.
The movie is fun, intellectually lightweight, sure, but great fun, although Moore has some problems in the second half dealing with the war itself. None of it will be new to you; hell, every quote he uses from Bush was one I’d used myself (and, indeed, the Daily Show). The film is like an illustrated pointillist version of a blog. In retrospect, I’m not entirely sure how many of the points he touches on very briefly will be lost on the uninitiated. But the fun to be had at Shrub’s expense is endless, and every piece of footage is a gem. This is actually another of the film’s problems: Moore (legitimately) takes strong and yes sometimes unfair positions on many things, but in the end can’t decide if Bush is evil or a clown. Then again, neither can I.
Speaking of evil clowns, this article neatly sums up the Bush failure to properly handle North Korea.
Disease has hit South American cocoa crops. There could be a...world chocolate shortage. Oh dear god no.
The US bombs Fallujah heavily, again. And Yowie Allawi makes another speech about how he will defeat the insurgents. The Indy notes that to attend while he makes these defiant speeches, one must first pass through 4 checkpoints entirely manned by Americans, with no Iraqi officials anywhere to be seen. The Indy seems to imply that Allawi’s complete lack of troops somehow deflates his boasts about defeating his enemies.
Governor Terminator has not backed down on his cruel imposition of single-ply toilet paper on state employees (he himself uses a twig to wipe between his singularly muscular buttocks and sees anything else as girly)(ok, I made that up, but for a minute you believed me, didn’t you?), but has had to back down from his plan to let animal shelters kill strays in less than the current statutory 6 days, to save money (3 days, including days when the shelter is closed, was his plan). However, strays will now be allocated to girly-man state employees to wipe their singularly flabby buttocks. I have just grossed myself out.
The Nation’s Naomi Klein says that the US office which overseas reconstruction spending in Iraq has hired the incredibly scummy British mercenary firm Aegis to protect the office’s employees from “assassination, kidnapping, injury and embarrassment.” Klein says the latter is impossible, since these people have no shame, having stolen $184m from drinking water projects to use for the new US embassy, which is already in a fucking palace so what more do they need, 3-ply toilet paper? Klein suggests that the reason almost none of the allocated money has actually been spent is to give Negroponte $15b worth of leverage to make the “sovereign” Iraqi government dance to his tune (his tune, judging from his time in Honduras, is whatever music death squads play when they shoot at people’s feet to make them “dance”). She notes that insurance for the foreign contractors costs up to 30% of payroll, for obvious reasons, plus security at 25% of total spending, and say 20% lost to corruption.... And latest Halliburton story: when their $85,000 trucks get a flat tire, they abandon them rather than, say, carry spare tires.
The same article coins a brilliant term to use instead of the obviously inaccurate “handover”: underhand. In fact, go read it now.
Cheney says about Fuckgate (he won’t admit, or deny, having used the word), “I think that a lot of my colleagues felt that what I had said badly needed to be said, that it was long overdue.” In other words, Leahy can go have a frank exchange of views himself. Cheney as usual misses the fucking point: he doesn’t just need to apologize to the senior Senator from Vermont, he needs to apologize to the Senate.
The White House’s response to Fuckgate: Shit happens.
Alan Simpson’s response: Cheney’s obscenity “comes from the gut” (well, Cheney was certainly speaking out of some part of his gastro-intestinal tract....) and “there was nothing contrived in what he said.”
Saudis including Crown Prince Abdullah are blaming the recent bombings on Zionists rather than (or possibly in addition to?) Al Qaida.
Times story: “A LOTION made from human breast milk is a highly effective treatment for warts, Swedish doctors have discovered.” The story does not explain how they happen to have discovered that. A breast pump connected to a water pistol at the office Christmas party would be my guess, knowing Swedish doctors.
The movie is fun, intellectually lightweight, sure, but great fun, although Moore has some problems in the second half dealing with the war itself. None of it will be new to you; hell, every quote he uses from Bush was one I’d used myself (and, indeed, the Daily Show). The film is like an illustrated pointillist version of a blog. In retrospect, I’m not entirely sure how many of the points he touches on very briefly will be lost on the uninitiated. But the fun to be had at Shrub’s expense is endless, and every piece of footage is a gem. This is actually another of the film’s problems: Moore (legitimately) takes strong and yes sometimes unfair positions on many things, but in the end can’t decide if Bush is evil or a clown. Then again, neither can I.
Speaking of evil clowns, this article neatly sums up the Bush failure to properly handle North Korea.
Disease has hit South American cocoa crops. There could be a...world chocolate shortage. Oh dear god no.
The US bombs Fallujah heavily, again. And Yowie Allawi makes another speech about how he will defeat the insurgents. The Indy notes that to attend while he makes these defiant speeches, one must first pass through 4 checkpoints entirely manned by Americans, with no Iraqi officials anywhere to be seen. The Indy seems to imply that Allawi’s complete lack of troops somehow deflates his boasts about defeating his enemies.
Governor Terminator has not backed down on his cruel imposition of single-ply toilet paper on state employees (he himself uses a twig to wipe between his singularly muscular buttocks and sees anything else as girly)(ok, I made that up, but for a minute you believed me, didn’t you?), but has had to back down from his plan to let animal shelters kill strays in less than the current statutory 6 days, to save money (3 days, including days when the shelter is closed, was his plan). However, strays will now be allocated to girly-man state employees to wipe their singularly flabby buttocks. I have just grossed myself out.
The Nation’s Naomi Klein says that the US office which overseas reconstruction spending in Iraq has hired the incredibly scummy British mercenary firm Aegis to protect the office’s employees from “assassination, kidnapping, injury and embarrassment.” Klein says the latter is impossible, since these people have no shame, having stolen $184m from drinking water projects to use for the new US embassy, which is already in a fucking palace so what more do they need, 3-ply toilet paper? Klein suggests that the reason almost none of the allocated money has actually been spent is to give Negroponte $15b worth of leverage to make the “sovereign” Iraqi government dance to his tune (his tune, judging from his time in Honduras, is whatever music death squads play when they shoot at people’s feet to make them “dance”). She notes that insurance for the foreign contractors costs up to 30% of payroll, for obvious reasons, plus security at 25% of total spending, and say 20% lost to corruption.... And latest Halliburton story: when their $85,000 trucks get a flat tire, they abandon them rather than, say, carry spare tires.
The same article coins a brilliant term to use instead of the obviously inaccurate “handover”: underhand. In fact, go read it now.
Cheney says about Fuckgate (he won’t admit, or deny, having used the word), “I think that a lot of my colleagues felt that what I had said badly needed to be said, that it was long overdue.” In other words, Leahy can go have a frank exchange of views himself. Cheney as usual misses the fucking point: he doesn’t just need to apologize to the senior Senator from Vermont, he needs to apologize to the Senate.
The White House’s response to Fuckgate: Shit happens.
Alan Simpson’s response: Cheney’s obscenity “comes from the gut” (well, Cheney was certainly speaking out of some part of his gastro-intestinal tract....) and “there was nothing contrived in what he said.”
Saudis including Crown Prince Abdullah are blaming the recent bombings on Zionists rather than (or possibly in addition to?) Al Qaida.
Times story: “A LOTION made from human breast milk is a highly effective treatment for warts, Swedish doctors have discovered.” The story does not explain how they happen to have discovered that. A breast pump connected to a water pistol at the office Christmas party would be my guess, knowing Swedish doctors.
Friday, June 25, 2004
Vexatious litigation
According to the Post, which was clearly enjoying itself, Cheney’s exact words to Leahy were “Fuck yourself.” The Post includes the words, but the NYT merely says that Cheney used “an obscene phrase to describe what he thought Mr. Leahy should do.” Cheney was later defended by none other than Orrin Hatch, who is a fucking Mormon. The WaPo notes that just before the cursing out, the Senate voted 99-1 for the Defence of Decency Act (which is the ten-fold increase in FCC fines for any broadcaster who quotes “Dick” Cheney--you knew anything passed 99-1 couldn’t be good--the one is John Breaux, mostly because it was attached to a defense budget bill), while the Times notes that earlier in the day, Tom Daschle called for increased cross-party understanding. Well, you can’t accuse Cheney of being unclear, but that’s probably not what Daschle meant.
The Post also got a little snarky towards Wolfowitz, who said a few days ago that the reason reporters in Iraq weren’t talking about how things are improving is that they’re afraid to leave their hotel rooms because of the near certainty of being killed or kidnapped. The WaPo points out that Wolfy, when he visited the country: “is completely unafraid to leave the hotel. In fact, he travels about the entire country, as he did last week. Unlike reporters, however, who tend to travel on land, his feet never touched the ground except in a U.S. military base or secured zone. Probably just for convenience, Wolfowitz prefers to travel by air, in a fleet of Black Hawk helicopters with several Apache attack helicopters -- bristling with machine guns, rockets and Hellfire missiles -- flying escort. Wolfowitz choppered from the secured airport to the secured Green Zone downtown, a distance of maybe 10 miles as the RPG flies. (Cabs are expensive.) Heading north to Mosul? No problem, take a C-130 transport plane to the U.S. base and meet with Kurdish leaders in a totally secured area. Need to trek to Basra? The C-130's the way to go. Get some nice views of the country and a good feel for what Iraqis are thinking.”
Last month I mentioned that the US military was running out of bullets, domestic suppliers not being able to keep up with its 2 billion bullet a year habit. So they’ve turned to...Israel. Now some congresscritters are suggesting that maybe shooting Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan with Israeli-made bullets is not such a good idea.
In turning back a lower-court decision to force Cheney to give up records from his energy policy cabal, the Supreme Court rather insultingly referred to the case as “vexatious litigation that might distract it from the energetic performance of its constitutional duties.” Assuming you consider environmental rape and general evil-doing to be among the government’s constitutional duties. The Court is basically saying that the executive is not above the Law, where the Law is a Platonic ideal, just most of the piddling, vexatious, actual laws. The point of returning it to the lower court is to postpone shining light into Cheney’s dank lair (I picture it like the “Stonecutters” episode of The Simpsons) until after the elections.
Speaking of unseemly events on the bench, an Oklahoma judge used a noisy penis pump to masturbate during trials, including a murder trial. The OK. attorney general wants him removed because any red-blooded American judge should ejaculate constantly during murder trials without resorting to any mechanical devices. Must be a fairy.
Sadly, Jack Ryan is pulling out of the Il. senatorial race, meaning there may be no more stories combining the words “Jeri Ryan” and “public sex.”
Bizarre story that a Paraguayan vice president supposedly assassinated in 1999 actually died having sex.
The Post also got a little snarky towards Wolfowitz, who said a few days ago that the reason reporters in Iraq weren’t talking about how things are improving is that they’re afraid to leave their hotel rooms because of the near certainty of being killed or kidnapped. The WaPo points out that Wolfy, when he visited the country: “is completely unafraid to leave the hotel. In fact, he travels about the entire country, as he did last week. Unlike reporters, however, who tend to travel on land, his feet never touched the ground except in a U.S. military base or secured zone. Probably just for convenience, Wolfowitz prefers to travel by air, in a fleet of Black Hawk helicopters with several Apache attack helicopters -- bristling with machine guns, rockets and Hellfire missiles -- flying escort. Wolfowitz choppered from the secured airport to the secured Green Zone downtown, a distance of maybe 10 miles as the RPG flies. (Cabs are expensive.) Heading north to Mosul? No problem, take a C-130 transport plane to the U.S. base and meet with Kurdish leaders in a totally secured area. Need to trek to Basra? The C-130's the way to go. Get some nice views of the country and a good feel for what Iraqis are thinking.”
Last month I mentioned that the US military was running out of bullets, domestic suppliers not being able to keep up with its 2 billion bullet a year habit. So they’ve turned to...Israel. Now some congresscritters are suggesting that maybe shooting Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan with Israeli-made bullets is not such a good idea.
In turning back a lower-court decision to force Cheney to give up records from his energy policy cabal, the Supreme Court rather insultingly referred to the case as “vexatious litigation that might distract it from the energetic performance of its constitutional duties.” Assuming you consider environmental rape and general evil-doing to be among the government’s constitutional duties. The Court is basically saying that the executive is not above the Law, where the Law is a Platonic ideal, just most of the piddling, vexatious, actual laws. The point of returning it to the lower court is to postpone shining light into Cheney’s dank lair (I picture it like the “Stonecutters” episode of The Simpsons) until after the elections.
Speaking of unseemly events on the bench, an Oklahoma judge used a noisy penis pump to masturbate during trials, including a murder trial. The OK. attorney general wants him removed because any red-blooded American judge should ejaculate constantly during murder trials without resorting to any mechanical devices. Must be a fairy.
Sadly, Jack Ryan is pulling out of the Il. senatorial race, meaning there may be no more stories combining the words “Jeri Ryan” and “public sex.”
Bizarre story that a Paraguayan vice president supposedly assassinated in 1999 actually died having sex.
Thursday, June 24, 2004
The flesh of collaborators is tastier than that of Americans
Stupid Hollywood idea of the week: a live-action movie of “Speed Racer.”
As the Daily Show noted at some length, Bush again mispronounced Abu Ghraib, adding an f and a whole extra syllable, which Jon Stewart commented might lead some people to think that he doesn’t give a fuck.
Bush’s new restrictions on Cubans living in the US visiting or sending cash to relatives in Cuba can only appeal to Cuban exiles who have no real connection to Cuba except hatred for Castro. The Bushies get to decide who counts as family for them to visit (not aunts and cousins, for example), and limits visits to 14 days every 3 years, with no exceptions for family emergencies. See what I mean?
The Afghan government says that that commander must have misspoke when he said he’d cut the heads off 4 Taliban. The NYT says the commander “retracted his account,” but leaves out his exact phrasing. How do you “retract” saying that you and your men beheaded 4 people? Doesn’t seem that much room for error.
The Afghans also say that those 11 Chinese road workers killed earlier this month weren’t killed by terrorists but by business rivals. Is that better or worse?
Slogan of the day, from Iraq: “The flesh of collaborators is tastier than that of Americans.” Many Iraqi police were killed today, because the billions we’re spending on the security forces somehow never involves them getting, say, kevlar, or real weapons. “Even farmers are often better armed than the police,” says Patrick Cockburn in the Indy.
Next week there will be a NATO summit in Istanbul. Its time and location were changed in December to allow for the creation of a Bush ad: he will sneak off to Iraq for the handover. It may not be quite the production number Karl Rove had planned 6 months ago. It hasn’t been announced since it may yet have to be called off, for obvious security reasons. Hell, at this stage Istanbul may not be safe enough.
Cheney’s spokesmodel says that the Dick had a “frank exchange of views” with Pat Leahy. Although reports are still contradictory as to whether he told Leahy to fuck himself, or merely “fuck you.”
Pete Coors, who makes the beer I’d be boycotting if I drank beer, is running for the US Senate for Colorado, on a platform of reducing the drinking age and not knowing who the prime minister of Canada is. Sounds about right for Colorado.
Bush actually approves of condoms in an anti-AIDS speech. Too bad his new rules require government censorship of any written or other materials issued by any HIV group receiving any government funding, including a ban on “obscene” or “sexually suggestive” material (like teaching how to use condoms), and mandatory inclusion of anti-condom propaganda. In their war against accurate information, the censorship includes questionnaires, so that people can’t be asked if they do, you know, dirty filthy things, unprotected. All that’ll be left standing, of course, is abstinence-only “sex ed.” Bush is also shifting AIDS money away from social services entirely to medicine (i.e., to his good friends in Big Pharma).
Governor Terminator has saved California from bankruptcy from switching all the toilet paper in the Capitol to one-ply.
As the Daily Show noted at some length, Bush again mispronounced Abu Ghraib, adding an f and a whole extra syllable, which Jon Stewart commented might lead some people to think that he doesn’t give a fuck.
Bush’s new restrictions on Cubans living in the US visiting or sending cash to relatives in Cuba can only appeal to Cuban exiles who have no real connection to Cuba except hatred for Castro. The Bushies get to decide who counts as family for them to visit (not aunts and cousins, for example), and limits visits to 14 days every 3 years, with no exceptions for family emergencies. See what I mean?
The Afghan government says that that commander must have misspoke when he said he’d cut the heads off 4 Taliban. The NYT says the commander “retracted his account,” but leaves out his exact phrasing. How do you “retract” saying that you and your men beheaded 4 people? Doesn’t seem that much room for error.
The Afghans also say that those 11 Chinese road workers killed earlier this month weren’t killed by terrorists but by business rivals. Is that better or worse?
Slogan of the day, from Iraq: “The flesh of collaborators is tastier than that of Americans.” Many Iraqi police were killed today, because the billions we’re spending on the security forces somehow never involves them getting, say, kevlar, or real weapons. “Even farmers are often better armed than the police,” says Patrick Cockburn in the Indy.
Next week there will be a NATO summit in Istanbul. Its time and location were changed in December to allow for the creation of a Bush ad: he will sneak off to Iraq for the handover. It may not be quite the production number Karl Rove had planned 6 months ago. It hasn’t been announced since it may yet have to be called off, for obvious security reasons. Hell, at this stage Istanbul may not be safe enough.
Cheney’s spokesmodel says that the Dick had a “frank exchange of views” with Pat Leahy. Although reports are still contradictory as to whether he told Leahy to fuck himself, or merely “fuck you.”
Pete Coors, who makes the beer I’d be boycotting if I drank beer, is running for the US Senate for Colorado, on a platform of reducing the drinking age and not knowing who the prime minister of Canada is. Sounds about right for Colorado.
Bush actually approves of condoms in an anti-AIDS speech. Too bad his new rules require government censorship of any written or other materials issued by any HIV group receiving any government funding, including a ban on “obscene” or “sexually suggestive” material (like teaching how to use condoms), and mandatory inclusion of anti-condom propaganda. In their war against accurate information, the censorship includes questionnaires, so that people can’t be asked if they do, you know, dirty filthy things, unprotected. All that’ll be left standing, of course, is abstinence-only “sex ed.” Bush is also shifting AIDS money away from social services entirely to medicine (i.e., to his good friends in Big Pharma).
Governor Terminator has saved California from bankruptcy from switching all the toilet paper in the Capitol to one-ply.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Torture is not a part of our soul and our being
Bush: “The values of this country are such that torture is not a part of our soul and our being.” To quote the Daily Show again, “Just because torturing prisoners is something we did, doesn’t mean it’s something we would do.”
London Times headline for the story of the little problems in Jack Ryan’s Senate race: “‘Star Trek’ Sex Row Warps Race to Rule Senate.” From Ryan’s website: “As an elected leader, my interest will be in promoting laws and educating people about the fundamental importance of the traditional family unit as the nucleus of our society.” Really, no divorced politician should make such smug comments, much less someone who tried to get 7 of 9 to have sex with him in public. Unless that’s what he means about educating people about the importance of marriage: “wait, you mean when you’re married, there’s sex involved?”
Did the R’s really just keep the entire Senate waiting around for a day just to prevent John Kerry casting a vote for veterans’ benefits?
Yowie Allawi sort of backs away from his comments on imposing martial law: “No, I didn’t specifically say martial law meaning martial law.” It all depends on what the meaning of... no, we won’t go there. Evidently the US has told Zowie that total sovereignty doesn’t include the right to declare martial law. But we can. Also, Allawi may not have noticed, but “martial” anything (from the Latin for Mars, god of war) requires an army, which he doesn’t have. On the hopelessly inadequate police and military, read this.
Blogger Bob Harris notes that the DOJ memo saying it ain’t torture unless it causes “severe pain akin to organ failure” (doesn’t say if the penis is an organ, ‘cuz penis failure can be painfully embarrassing, or so I’ve heard) was written by Jay Bybee, since appointed by Bush to the 9th Circuit, another reason not to give Bush the keys to the courts.
I don’t have the stomach to deal with yesterday’s release of every document that doesn’t make Bush look too bad on treatment of POWs, while continuing to withhold most of the ones the D’s on the Judiciary Committee wanted to look at. I’m not too impressed by Bush’s order to try to be treat prisoners inhumanely unless it was, like, inconvenient (“to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity”). Actually, the precise justification for torture during interrogation was “military necessity,” so really this is meaningless. Rumsfeld, who likes to stand (he has a standing desk), complained that prisoners weren’t forced to remain standing for longer than 4 hours, showing a complete lack of understanding of the nature of the “stress positions” torture, which is keeping someone in a single position for hours; not like standing at a desk and being able to change which muscles are stressed at will. He also, I think it’s Wonkette who says, introduces the Rummy standard for torture, and we know he’s tough, by god he’d volunteer to be at the bottom of a naked human pyramid, and forced masturbation, he eats forced masturbation for breakfast.
London Times headline for the story of the little problems in Jack Ryan’s Senate race: “‘Star Trek’ Sex Row Warps Race to Rule Senate.” From Ryan’s website: “As an elected leader, my interest will be in promoting laws and educating people about the fundamental importance of the traditional family unit as the nucleus of our society.” Really, no divorced politician should make such smug comments, much less someone who tried to get 7 of 9 to have sex with him in public. Unless that’s what he means about educating people about the importance of marriage: “wait, you mean when you’re married, there’s sex involved?”
Did the R’s really just keep the entire Senate waiting around for a day just to prevent John Kerry casting a vote for veterans’ benefits?
Yowie Allawi sort of backs away from his comments on imposing martial law: “No, I didn’t specifically say martial law meaning martial law.” It all depends on what the meaning of... no, we won’t go there. Evidently the US has told Zowie that total sovereignty doesn’t include the right to declare martial law. But we can. Also, Allawi may not have noticed, but “martial” anything (from the Latin for Mars, god of war) requires an army, which he doesn’t have. On the hopelessly inadequate police and military, read this.
Blogger Bob Harris notes that the DOJ memo saying it ain’t torture unless it causes “severe pain akin to organ failure” (doesn’t say if the penis is an organ, ‘cuz penis failure can be painfully embarrassing, or so I’ve heard) was written by Jay Bybee, since appointed by Bush to the 9th Circuit, another reason not to give Bush the keys to the courts.
I don’t have the stomach to deal with yesterday’s release of every document that doesn’t make Bush look too bad on treatment of POWs, while continuing to withhold most of the ones the D’s on the Judiciary Committee wanted to look at. I’m not too impressed by Bush’s order to try to be treat prisoners inhumanely unless it was, like, inconvenient (“to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity”). Actually, the precise justification for torture during interrogation was “military necessity,” so really this is meaningless. Rumsfeld, who likes to stand (he has a standing desk), complained that prisoners weren’t forced to remain standing for longer than 4 hours, showing a complete lack of understanding of the nature of the “stress positions” torture, which is keeping someone in a single position for hours; not like standing at a desk and being able to change which muscles are stressed at will. He also, I think it’s Wonkette who says, introduces the Rummy standard for torture, and we know he’s tough, by god he’d volunteer to be at the bottom of a naked human pyramid, and forced masturbation, he eats forced masturbation for breakfast.
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Cos you like to hurt people
Bushie types on McNeil-Lehrer today trying to explain how they got the world terrorism report wrong. Look, even assuming this was an honest mistake, the people who are supposed to be the government experts on terrorism never questioned figures supposedly showing that deaths from terrorism had halved in 2003. They shouldn’t have needed to go back over the figures, they should have known it couldn’t have been correct. Idiots. Morons.
Then there’s another Iraq-AQ connection, where they insisted that a colonel in the Iraqi militia was the same person as an AQ “airport greeter” because they mistook the names--Ahmad Hikmat Shakir Azzawi versus Hikmat Shakir Ahmad. This is not just a mix-up, because it is precisely the same inability to understand how Arabic names work that let some of the 9/11 hijackers into the US even though they were on watch lists. So you’d think that would have focused some attention on getting it right.
Berlusconi blames his losses in the European parliamentary elections on leftist vote fraud.
Beheading: it’s the new rock ‘n roll. The South Korean, of course, and this: “Afghan troops beheaded four Taliban after guerrillas cut off the heads of an interpreter and an Afghan soldier who were separated from a patrol. "They cut off their heads with a knife, so when our forces arrested four Taliban we cut off their heads too," said a government commander in Zabul province.”
The BBC puts excerpts from Clinton’s Panorama interview online, but not the good bits, so we can’t see or hear him erupt at David Dimbleby:
Then there’s another Iraq-AQ connection, where they insisted that a colonel in the Iraqi militia was the same person as an AQ “airport greeter” because they mistook the names--Ahmad Hikmat Shakir Azzawi versus Hikmat Shakir Ahmad. This is not just a mix-up, because it is precisely the same inability to understand how Arabic names work that let some of the 9/11 hijackers into the US even though they were on watch lists. So you’d think that would have focused some attention on getting it right.
Berlusconi blames his losses in the European parliamentary elections on leftist vote fraud.
Beheading: it’s the new rock ‘n roll. The South Korean, of course, and this: “Afghan troops beheaded four Taliban after guerrillas cut off the heads of an interpreter and an Afghan soldier who were separated from a patrol. "They cut off their heads with a knife, so when our forces arrested four Taliban we cut off their heads too," said a government commander in Zabul province.”
The BBC puts excerpts from Clinton’s Panorama interview online, but not the good bits, so we can’t see or hear him erupt at David Dimbleby:
“And that’s the difference in me and the people that were after me. I actually cared about what happened to those people, and I wanted to be President to help those people. And that’s what the fight was about. Now that doesn’t justify any mistake I made, but look how much time you spent asking me these questions, and this time you’ve had … that’s cos what you care about, cos that’s what you think helps you and helps this interview. I care about what happened to the people that I fought for. And that’s why people like you always help the Far Right cos you like to hurt people, and you like to talk about how bad people are and all their personal failings, and (David interjects) and that’s why you. Look, just – you made a decision to allocate your time in a certain way. You should take responsibility for that. You should say yes, I care much more about this than whether the Bosnian people were saved, and whether he bought a million people home from Kosovo, than whether twenty seven million people had jobs at the end, and whether we moved a hundred times as many people out of poverty as Regan and Bush. This is what I care about.”(transcript at above link)
Call me Ishmael
A Japanese high school student fell asleep in class. His teacher didn’t think he was contrite enough, and ordered him to write an essay in his own blood. The teacher has since apologized to the boy and his parents, but I think to really show his contrition....
The Post at length on the miserable failure of the CPA in Iraq. Incompetence, wasted money, money not even spent, junior Republicans given jobs way beyond their abilities, Iraqis given police jobs without any training, etc. Worth the time to read.
A Supreme Court decision today that patients denied treatment by HMOs can only sue in federal court effectively removes any incentive for HMOs not to deny treatment, since they no longer face punitive damages. No recent Supreme Court decision will kill as many people as this one. The specific case was on the Texas Patients’ Bill of Rights, which Bush as governor took credit for, even though he opposed it. His admin also opposed it in the Court.
The Court also ruled that police may order people to identify themselves. This means that the police may arrest people who refuse, who may then be fined or imprisoned for refusing to divulge their names. I think we can all spot a slippery slope when it’s as obvious as this one is. And yes, the guy in this case did have a slightly funny name, Larry Dudley Hiibel (but was arrested in Winnemucca, Nev., which rather trumps Hiibel in the funny name department).
And what about giving a pseudonym? It’s not illegal to use a false name unless for purposes of fraud, so I don’t see how they can criminalize someone calling themself by any name they choose (a look at my email address book indicates nearly half use a version of their name not found on their birth certificates, including diminutives, one whatever the opposite of diminutive is, and two fake middle initials).
The Post at length on the miserable failure of the CPA in Iraq. Incompetence, wasted money, money not even spent, junior Republicans given jobs way beyond their abilities, Iraqis given police jobs without any training, etc. Worth the time to read.
A Supreme Court decision today that patients denied treatment by HMOs can only sue in federal court effectively removes any incentive for HMOs not to deny treatment, since they no longer face punitive damages. No recent Supreme Court decision will kill as many people as this one. The specific case was on the Texas Patients’ Bill of Rights, which Bush as governor took credit for, even though he opposed it. His admin also opposed it in the Court.
The Court also ruled that police may order people to identify themselves. This means that the police may arrest people who refuse, who may then be fined or imprisoned for refusing to divulge their names. I think we can all spot a slippery slope when it’s as obvious as this one is. And yes, the guy in this case did have a slightly funny name, Larry Dudley Hiibel (but was arrested in Winnemucca, Nev., which rather trumps Hiibel in the funny name department).
And what about giving a pseudonym? It’s not illegal to use a false name unless for purposes of fraud, so I don’t see how they can criminalize someone calling themself by any name they choose (a look at my email address book indicates nearly half use a version of their name not found on their birth certificates, including diminutives, one whatever the opposite of diminutive is, and two fake middle initials).
Monday, June 21, 2004
Permissible limits
Saddam Hussein will be transferred to Iraqi custody. Only, like “sovereignty,” he will continue being exactly where he is, guarded by Americans. No word on whether they’ll tell any Iraqis where it is that he’s being held.
And it’s pretty much official: Iraq will have martial law. First the Iraqi defense minister, then Owie Allawi used the term. Or, as Bush will call it, “freedom.”
They also want to reimpose the death penalty, which Bremer suspended, and use it on Hussein.
The US has lost control over the road between Baghdad and the Baghdad airport. American contractors, CPA officials, etc, can now only use it 6 hours a day.
I knew the thing about the Saudis killing every last Al Qaida militant when they dumped Paul Johnson’s body (but what about the head?) was a tad on the convenient side. Now it seems they may not have even recovered the body.
Zowie Allawi also supports the airstrikes on Fallujah, evidently agreeing with Mark Kimmitt, M.M., that “The collateral damage estimate was within permissible limits.”
A Sy Hersh piece says that Israel concluded a year ago that the US had lost in Iraq, and embarked on its own plan, which was to strengthen the Kurds, giving itself a base to spy on Iran, and keeping Iraq fragmented, as well as stirring up Kurds in Syria and Iran. Combine this with a NYT piece Sunday on how Kurds are beginning to force out Arabs Hussein had put into Kurdistan to Arabize it. There are Kurds in refugee camps, and for a year the US has been stalling their return. They are now returning.
Good op-ed piece on how little difference there is between Kerry and Bush on defense issues.
And it’s pretty much official: Iraq will have martial law. First the Iraqi defense minister, then Owie Allawi used the term. Or, as Bush will call it, “freedom.”
They also want to reimpose the death penalty, which Bremer suspended, and use it on Hussein.
The US has lost control over the road between Baghdad and the Baghdad airport. American contractors, CPA officials, etc, can now only use it 6 hours a day.
I knew the thing about the Saudis killing every last Al Qaida militant when they dumped Paul Johnson’s body (but what about the head?) was a tad on the convenient side. Now it seems they may not have even recovered the body.
Zowie Allawi also supports the airstrikes on Fallujah, evidently agreeing with Mark Kimmitt, M.M., that “The collateral damage estimate was within permissible limits.”
A Sy Hersh piece says that Israel concluded a year ago that the US had lost in Iraq, and embarked on its own plan, which was to strengthen the Kurds, giving itself a base to spy on Iran, and keeping Iraq fragmented, as well as stirring up Kurds in Syria and Iran. Combine this with a NYT piece Sunday on how Kurds are beginning to force out Arabs Hussein had put into Kurdistan to Arabize it. There are Kurds in refugee camps, and for a year the US has been stalling their return. They are now returning.
Good op-ed piece on how little difference there is between Kerry and Bush on defense issues.
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