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Why Should We Care About Zeitgeist ?
[Photo credit for Dana Lynne Anderson's painting "Zeitgeist": Kosmos magazine]
Why should we care about zeitgeist and what people are talking about in someone else's neighborhood? We should care because it can be the key to making our efforts at pressuring Congress more effective and ultimately, controlling the policy debate.
How?
Let's say that a healthy portion of public opinion on political matters is formed by the mainstream media. How do you measure how effective their narratives are, without spending money on polling? How do you get roughly the same information for free? Further, how do you fight those narratives and form a strategy that influences the public debate?
Talk to strangers. Person on the street. The straphanger next to you. The guy selling corn at the farmstand.
What do they all have in common? What are they all talking about? And most important, how are they talking about it?
For example, now when I hear people talk about Iraq, they are fully impatient. All of them. Nobody I talk to give s rat's ass about the rhetoric of Susan Collin's-type "precipitous withdrawal" speak. This is a change worth noting. In May, when the vote failed, people I spoke with were mega pissed at the Democrats. Now, when a vote fails, they will be pissed at all of them. That is the changing zeitgeist of the Iraq War.
Why is that important to ending the Iraq War, from a strategic political viewpoint?
It's important because it's not enough to apply pressure on lawmakers to get them to act. It's what to pressure them about, and when to do it with a message that will be the most effective.
For the Democrats to be effective in ending the war, they will have to understand that the impatience of people to end this war is a huge weapon in the fight against the elephantine pace of Republicans in changing votes. They can use it to leverage the Republicans into voting for a bill which requires troop withdrawal by date certain, instead of troop withdrawal by some uncertain benchmark in the future.
Moreover, the impatience of the people is a ticking time bomb for Republicans. The longer they wait, the less choices they will have in how the troops wil be withdrawn, and over what period of time. Until finally, it's January, 2008, and they realize that there is no way that troops can come home by election time, and they have no choices left. Dick Lugar know this. Some of the other not too bright folks have yet to figure this out.
So my point is this: If you want troop withdrawal, then the time to run your campaign to have people call Congress is now. Keep up the pressure of immediate withdrawal. It's unlikely to happen, but you can be the Overton Window which forces the hands of the remaining dregs of Republican support.
You can take the zeitgeist of public impatience and use it to shape your message and move debate.
Okay, that sounds overwhelming, but it's not. Here's my trick for dealing with the "but I'm only one person" or "but I'm not on CNN" feelings of despair and overwhelm. As I have said a number of times, politics isn't very complicated or difficult. Seriously, look at the collection of idiot pundits, consultants, and candidates elected to public office, and well...point made. So when I need to feel powerful in the media, I think about that clown car full of talking heads. If they can have a platform and an effect on the public discourse, I sure as hell can.
Monkey, Blackwater could not have taken that 2 trillion.
Only two people could have. george w bush and donald rumdfield.
Reposting from last thread
Contact Congressman Conyers and tell him to arrest Miers and Taylor.
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5126
(202) 225-0072 Fax
669 Federal Building
231 W. Lafayette
Detroit, MI 48226
(313) 961-5670
(313) 226-2085 Fax
Oh, and Monkey, I would like to point out that money came up 'missing' between January 2001 and Sept 2001 and was finally told to us late the evening of Sept 10.
Rummy had no choice, they were suprised by a GAO report that morning they obviously thought they had repressed.
BEFORE we were attacked. Before Blackwater and Halliburton got any sweetheart deals. Before anybody died... We were ALREADY atleast 2 trillion lighter.
Do you know why the need for the 'pre911 mindset' talking point...?
Because the day immediately before that was September 10th.
The day the 'biggest theft in history' was revealed.
Here is the scaryiest thing. Ask someone what they read in the paper on the morning of September 11th. BEFORE we were attacked.
What were we doing immediately BEFORE the attack...? Reading newspapers announcing rummy had revealed the largest hiest in history.
2 trillion dollars in one haul. We were attacked roughly 14 hours AFTER rummy announced it.
Here come some more lies: the pResident is speaking NOW.
I just caught John Murtha in a lie.
Remember a townhall style meeting he gave and a woman stood up and bluntly asked them where the 2.SIX trillion dollars went?
Both Murtha and whomever else was on the panel acted totally surprised and told her she could not mean 'trillions' certainly she meant 'billions'. And they huffed and puffed and claimed to not know a thing about it. They tried to humiliate her into shutting up.
EXCEPT Murtha knew. I can prove it.
The money was missing by July 2001. And murtha knew it by July, he was there the first time it was mentioned by rummy himself.
"Dr. Zakheim's been trying to hire CPAs because the financial systems of the department are so snarled up that we can't account for some $2.6 trillion in transactions that exist, if that's believable. And yet we're told that we can't hire CPAs to help untangle it in many respects. "
http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=408
No rummy, that is not believable. Not at all.
And John Murtha is a freaking LIAR.
I'll bet Bush is talking about "mixed results" in the report that is preceding the one in September from the Generals. He sent McCain out as "advance man" to say to have patience because the "surge" just reached full strength two weeks ago.
The "zeitgeist" around here is not one of patience.
I like the thread header & painting, btw.
Rock Star
by The Iguanas
‘57 Stratocaster, fifty bucks
That’s all I’m asking bro’ - down on my luck
Brand new cassette deck, still in the box
Swear on the Bilble, it ain’t hot
I’m a rock star
I’m feeling good
Rockin’ around my neighborhood
Eighty year old lady, she’s on the ground
Can’t keep from rockin’ when I’m around
Windows in my ride are all busted out
Everybody’s rockin’ - what’s it all about
Rock star
I’m feeling good
Rockin’ around my neighborhood
I’m so cool baby I’m so hip
Dang bro’ just burned my lip
Got no understanding, got no respect
Got a brand new power drill, some cassettes
Rock star
I’m feeling good
Rockin’ around my neighborhood
Smoked my brains I can hardly talk
I’m gonna get a little piece of the rock
Rockin’ in the morning, rockin’ at night
Just like a big chief smokin’ my peace pipe
Rock star
I’m feeling good
Rockin’ around my neighborhood
C-SPAN-3
House Judiciary Committee.....
NOW... Harriet Miers has not shown; people speaking five minutes each.....
Conyers speaking right now.
Bush just said it again: This is hard work!
"BUSH: First of all, I understand why the American people are — you know, they’re tired of the war. People are — there’s war fatigue in America. It’s affecting our psychology. "
He wants you to be too tired to resist him.
The power of suggestion. People who are tired, go back to sleep.
The straight brain washing technique usually does work, until someone points out what he is doing.
MAXIMUM RESISTANCE.
DO NOT REST UNTIL IT IS DONE.
Impeach.
"The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq are the ones who attacked us on Sept. 11," Bush said.
Son of a b*tch!
IMPEACH! ARREST! TRY! HANG!
from another blog:
So, Ralph... who are you supporting for the next election? Any frontrunners yet?
@@@@@
I don't know that I like any of the "front-runners" in the Democratic party:
Obama, Edwards, Hillary
I will not vote for HIllary, if she nominated by the Dems I think I will vote Republican (an awful thing for me, but I do it on a deeper principle, of an historic precedent of having husband and wife presidents. This would be an awful precedent, for the nation and for either party, having ONE FAMILY control the White House for 8 to possibly 16 years. Power corrupts; absolute power, corrupts absolutely etc...).
From what I am learning about Richardson and Dodd, I like them - they appear competent and experienced etc....
(Gore will not run, nor do I think he should...)
OMFG!
Bush admits administration leaked CIA name
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19728346/
Reposting from last thread
Contact Congressman Conyers and tell him to arrest Miers and Taylor.
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5126
(202) 225-0072 Fax
@@@@@
You might also want to bug the White House:
202-456-1111
Ralph, sorry.
But I have to agree with the other standing argument in this case.
I will not be calling the White House. I have no need to talk to evil people who are there to pretend they CARE about what I have to say.
I would rather call a whore house and get my moneys worth.
At least whores are known to have hearts.
"The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq are the ones who attacked us on Sept. 11," Bush said.
Posted by: Christy at July 12, 2007 11:59 AM
ERRR... How can that BE? The (mostly) Saudi criminal hijackers DIED the same day their victims did.... Did they reincarnate instantly and age to maturity in only five plus years?
And why is it he didn't authorize an invasion of Saudi Arabia since that's where most of the hijackers were from...? Bad enough he lied and diverted troops from Afghanistan where Bin Laden WAS, but then the brainless twit authorized an illegal invasion of a country that had no connection whatsoever in any way, shape, or form to the hijackers (Saddam and Bin Laden were from different sects and detested each other, fer pete's sake).
Practically every garbled sentence that comes out of The Cretin's mouth is a LIE, and this exercise in deconstructing the lies with logic is actually becoming a pedantically boring exercise.
I'm tired of it.
IMPEACH THE LYING, NO-GOOD, SORRY SONS OF PIT VIPERS ALREADY, dammit!!!
{And I'm tired of hearing the word 'folks,' What's wrong with the word 'people?'}
THE PLAME LEAK
"I'm aware of the fact that perhaps somebody in the administration did disclose the name of that person," Bush said. "I've often thought about what would have happened if that person had come forth and said, 'I did it.' Would we have had this endless hours of investigation and a lot of money being spent on this matter? But, so, it's been a tough issue for a lot of people in the White House. It's run its course and now we're going to move on."
@@@@@@@@
"that perhaps somebody" This is a modified, half confession, purposefully vague...
WHEN DID BUSH FIND OUT??? WHO TOLD HIM??? Bush said that Rove did not leak the name and that there was an internal investigation to determine who leaked the name..
KARL ROVE leaked the name. Will Bush fire Rove??? Now??
Oh man, how disgusting
GOP Pundit Outed In DC Madam Scandal
Summary: On MSNBC’s Scarborough Country, Republican strategist Jack Burkman, echoing right-wing pundit Ann Coulter, whom he was defending, declared that “within hours of those [World Trade Center] towers going down,” the wives of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks “were ready to make money and exploit this tragedy!”
With
The phone number for GOP political operative/conservative pundit, John (Jack) M. Burkman Jr. - Principal J.M. Burkman & Associates, Arlington, VA - appears in the database of phone records of the ‘DC Madam.’
http://www.crooksandliars.com/
WASHINGTON - A House panel cleared the way Thursday for contempt proceedings against former White House counsel Harriet Miers after she obeyed President Bush and skipped a hearing on the firings of federal prosecutors.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070712/ap_on_go_co/fired_prosecutors;_ylt=Au1f5lSKvY_VVjmNuKKy26qs0NUE
Man what a strange news day, breaking in all directions.
Posted by: Christy at July 12, 2007 12:57 PM
Hmmmmmm.... so, how's the pundit going to punt that little factoid...? And is he one of the kinkier ones like Vitter?
Heh. Just waiting for the next 'PubliCON name to make it to blogland ... since it seems likely these names will never make it to any "respectable" Lamestream Media evening snooze show. They've all known this kind of thing was going to be talked about, and then The Cretin says "likely" someone in his office blabbed Plame's name and he's ready to "move forward" and forget the whole thing, and we don't yet know what the investigative committes are going to do about (inherent) contempt charges....
1. Vitter
2. Burkman
3. _______
Next.....
Oh... wait... I know what will make the top of the evening snooze: Chertoff's belly-ache "gut feeling" that there "might" be a "ter'rist" attack sometime this summer....
Geez. How does anyone expect us to enjoy our popcorn and front row seats for all these various kinds of scandals if none of this is going to be talked about in Lamestream Media?
Party Poopers!
Posted by: Christy at July 12, 2007 01:01 PM
I didn't see the word "inherent" in front of the word "contempt."
Hmmmmmm.... Might have to nudge the ranking Dem members of the House Judiciary Committee to seek "inherent contempt" charges against Miers. Seems Congress has all the say-so regarding "inherent contempt," and not even SCOTUS has any authority over that....
I'm in the mood to see some perp walks... and for Congress Critters to DO SOMETHING SOON for a change!
I would like to say one other thing about hope.
I did not mean to sound hopeless, I am however extreamly pessimistic cause there are so few options and none of them will stop the killing outright.
As of today I can literally say there are MORE politically 'active' people around me than I seen even at the hieght of the 2004 elections.
Everyone I know actually voted is now making phone calls, getting familiar with the players and saying impeach.
And virtually ALL of the adults around me that did not vote are now openly discussing the importance of it to defy men like bush. They also spontainiously bring up impeachment every three sentances.
I am not hopeless. I think what is happening around us is BEAUTIFUL but I am not certain most people do realize they are not alone.
As the movement grows on its own that awareness of what a HUGE movement we are all swept up in will make us feel even more comfortable to be bold and unafraid.
I just wanted to say this because it seems to get actually be on topic and because I just would like to reiterate that hopeless and pessimistic are not the same thing.
'War Fatigue'. He wants us to believe we are too tired to resist.
Instead, peope are spontainiously coming fully awake.
I think its amazing.
And scary.
Ralph its your business who you vote for but it is likely Hillary will be the nominee.
So you are prepared for a continuation of this Bush insanity with a President McCain or Romney? I am not thrilled with Hillary either, but I shutter to think where this country will be in 2009 with a Republican President. My theory is that we work our tails off for the nominee we believe shares our values but accept that others might not agree. My choices are John Edwards and Bill Richardson, but I am prepared to admit this time that my favorite might not be the nominee. I spent 2 years at the JK blog pushing his candidacy day and night and so I might not be the best judge of the best candidate, but heavens no this country can't survive another 5 years of right wing rule, 557 days is more time than I wish to wait.
Posted by: Christy at July 12, 2007 01:23 PM
For you, Christy, and all of us, from the Dixie Chicks:
Sunday morning, I heard the preacher say
Thou shall not kill
I don't wanna hear nothing else about killing
And that it's God's will
'Cause our children are watching us
They put their trust in us
They're gonna be like us
So let's learn from our history
And do it differently
I hope, for more love, more joy and laughter
I hope, we'll have more than we'll ever need
I hope, we'll have more happy ever after
I hope, we can all live more fearlessly
And we can lose all the pain and misery
I hope, I hope
Oh, Rosie, her man he gets too rough
That's all she can say, is he's a good man
He don't mean no harm
He was just brought up that way
But our children are watching us
They put their trust in us
They're gonna be like us
It's okay for us to disagree
We can work it out lovingly
I hope, for more love, more joy and laughter
I hope, we'll have more than we'll ever need
I hope, we'll have more happy ever after
I hope, we can all live more fearlessly
And we can lose all the pain and misery
I hope, I hope
There must be a way to change what's going on
No I don't have all the answers
I hope, for more love, more joy and laughter
I hope, we'll have more than we'll ever need
I hope, we'll have more happy ever after
I hope, we can all live more fearlessly
And we can lose all the pain and misery
I hope, I hope
I hope, I hope, I hope
Christy,
Burke was revealed as a complete piece of crap two years ago when he propositioned several college aged girls on the streets of Washington DC for a potential three way, and one of them wrote about it on her blog.
Goggle him and I am sure you will find it.
I haven't seen him on Hardball since.
This one goes out to all the closet perv politicians out there, including YOU "I Did 'Er" Vitter"...
Set Me Free
by Velvet Revolver
You operate and motivate on synthetic fuel
You're mother nature and an atom bomb
As long as you're kept full of pretty bodies
Your little secret will be safe with me
Around again
Insane again
It comes again
And sets me free
So set me free, set me free
'Cause I think you need my soul
Set me free, set me free
You're kept alive and polarized with one thing in mind
Metabolize everything that you see
But now and then or a little later
Now I'm gonna take you down with me
Around again
Insane again
She comes again
And sets me free
So set me free, set me free
'Cause I think you need my soul
Set me free, set me free
So take me down
Take me, down, down, down, down
Take me down, take me down
So set me free, set me free
'Cause I think you need my soul
Set me free, set me free
My freedom!
That's a wrap!
TESTIMONY OF SARA TAYLOR BEFORE THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE.
I watched the testimony yesterday of Sara Taylor, head of the White House political office and assistant to Karl Rove. Her testimony, was weak, halting, hesitating, inconsistent and self-serving. Whether she actually lied, I am not quite certain.
But Taylor refused to answer many questions put to her based on "executive privilege" - an extremely broad and perhaps bizarre interpretation of executive privilege from the White House. If Taylor does not answer these questions in writing (within a deadline set by the committee), she is subject to a contempt of Congress charge issued by the committee. This possibility was pointed out at the end of the hearing by Chairman Leahy. From the tone of his voice and his demeanor Leahy seemed like he was inclined to support a criminal charge (as he felt that Taylor was only invoking executive privilege when it suited her or the president).
Ralph its your business who you vote for but it is likely Hillary will be the nominee.
So you are prepared for a continuation of this Bush insanity with a President McCain or Romney? I
@@@@@@
Yes - that is better than 16 years of semi-corrupt, semi deceptive, exceedingly ambitious, Clinton rule.
The Democratic party, unfortunately, has to be taught to do the right thing. NOT THE EASY THING...
Hillary's followers and apologists such as yourself should take note of my position, and realize there many Democrats and even more independents who feel exactly as I do.
Hillary's nomination would energize, unite and activate the Republican rightwing; and depress and discourage the liberals, the peace groups and the independents.
REALLY VERY SAD...
'A dead Iraqi is just another dead Iraqi... You know, so what?'
Interviews with US veterans show for the first time the pattern of brutality in Iraq
It is an axiom of American political life that the actions of the US military are beyond criticism. Democrats and Republicans praise the men and women in uniform at every turn. Apart from the odd bad apple at Abu Ghraib, the US military in Iraq is deemed to be doing a heroic job under trying circumstances.
That perception will take a severe knock today with the publication in The Nation magazine of a series of in-depth interviews with 50 combat veterans of the Iraq war from across the US. In the interviews, veterans have described acts of violence in which US forces have abused or killed Iraqi men, women and children with impunity.
The report steers clear of widely reported atrocities, such as the massacre in Haditha in 2005, but instead unearths a pattern of human rights abuses. "It's not individual atrocity," Specialist Garett Reppenhagen, a sniper from the 263rd Armour Battalion, said. "It's the fact that the entire war is an atrocity."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2758829.ece
Holy crap.
Forget Sen. Vitter’s penis: Follow his money
Snip.
Defense contractor Northrop Grumman, which says it currently employs more than 17,000 shipbuilding professionals, primarily in Louisiana and Mississippi, has received $4.3 billion in federal contracts during Sen. Vitter’s time in Congress. Over that time, Northrop has given Sen. Vitter $38,050 in campaign contributions.
McDermott International, an engineering and construction company with facilities in Morgan City and New Orleans, received $354 million in federal contracts. It gave Sen. Vitter $35,250 in campaign contributions.
Edison Chouest Offshore, an offshore vessel service company founded in Galliano, La., received about $66.6 million in federal contracts during Sen. Vitter’s service in Congress. The company is the largest campaign contributor to Sen. Vitter at $84,526.
BellSouth has received $141 million (not all in Louisiana) in federal contracts during Sen. Vitter’s time in Congress. BellSouth is Sen. Vitter’s third-largest campaign contributor at $59,050.
Bollinger Shipyards, which has facilities in Lockport, East New Orleans, St. Rose, Harvey and Morgan City, La., has received about $106 million in federal contracts. It has given Sen. Vitter $43,700 in campaign contributions.
Boh Brothers Construction, which says it’s Louisiana’s largest construction company, has given Sen. Vitter $48,400 in campaign contributions. This is the company whose Web site says: “Stopping the Surge/Boh Completes Flood Gate at the 17th Street Canal.”
C&C Technologies, a privately owned Lafayette, La., surveying and mapping company that operates worldwide, has given Sen. Vitter $36,900. C&C does projects for the U.S. Geological Survey.
Sen. Vitter serves on the Committee on Environment and Public Works and its Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety. Energy PACs gave him money. Duke Energy gave him $10,000 for his Senate campaign. Centerpoint Energy gave him $3,500. El Paso Corp., which owns North America’s largest natural gas pipeline system, gave him $6,500. Entergy Corp., which seeks a revival of the nuclear power industry, gave him $7,000. Overall, the oil and gas industries have given him $459,085 and the electric utility industry $110,666.
Sen. Vitter serves on the Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Insurance, and Automotive Safety. Over his congressional career, the insurance industry has given him $196,376. (See his top industry campaign donors here.)
http://scholarsandrogues.wordpress.com/2007/07/11/forget-sen-vitters-penis-follow-his-money/
Moving Right Along
While Republicans abandon him at home, the rest of the world is preparing for the era beyond Bush. What the next president should do to repair the breach between Washington and the world.
By Michael Hirsh
Newsweek
July 12, 2007 - While the White House desperately tries to save George W. Bush’s “legacy,” the rest of the world is putting it behind them. In capitals around the globe, Bush is already a lame, indeed mortally wounded, duck. And in government offices where U.S. policy can still tilt the fate of nations—that’s most places—the 2008 presidential race is being watched like the World Cup. In Tehran, where I visited in late June, senior officials admit they are closely following the debate. Mohsen Rezai, secretary of Iran’s powerful Expediency Council, told me in an interview that despite Bush’s baby steps toward engagement with a regime he has disdained talking to for six years, “Mr. Bush’s government is stuck at a crossroads and it can’t make a decision. Mr. Bush is not a patient person. We hope … we can pursue a better path with the next American government. The candidates for next American election are saying [more] logical and rational things about Iran." Another top Iranian official, chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, also said he liked what he was hearing, especially about moves to end the Iraq War. “The Democrats are now coming out with good statements, but we don’t know how once in power they would behave.”
Normally a president with 18 months left doesn’t have to be a lame duck. But Bush is now stalemated on so many fronts—the Mideast, Iraq, Lebanon, reducing the budget deficit, opening up trade (there is one hopeful exception at the moment: denuclearizing North Korea)—that the likelihood he can achieve a breakthrough is vanishing. Just as important, he doesn’t have a vice president who’s trying to succeed him, and his own party is abandoning him in the most humiliating way on Iraq. The sense one gets in many foreign capitals, as well as in Washington, is that people are just waiting for it all to be over, so they can begin to pick the country and the global system out of the rubble. “We just want the misery to end,” says one European diplomat.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19731336/site/newsweek/from/RS.1/
Troop pull out by April 08
Why does this 'victory' for us feel so damn mournful...?
I hate georgie. I really hate him.
A very very interesting observation.
This should be followed up with its own thread. (hint hint).
No. Not that we would stay anymore on topic but then again....
Very interesting. Pass it on.
The MSM's Michael Moore Inferiority Complex
"So what accounts for their peculiar obsession with the truth of Moore's films? It's not that these media outlets relentlessly examine the veracity of other public figures, or that Moore is somehow greater in stature than leading presidential candidates. It's a mystery.
Here's a guess, though: Michael Moore elicits a very specific type of status anxiety in mainstream journalists. Moore's product -- passionate, provocative political commentary -- is a close cousin of the media's product -- bloodless, boring political commentary. And Moore is a former journalist, an editor at papers in Flint, Michigan and Mother Jones. What he does is, broadly speaking, in the same realm as what they do. But there are differences between the product he puts out, and what the media offers. A major one is that Moore's releases strike massive emotional chords with the American people, setting off weeks of heated discussion every time he unveils a film. Additionally, he is paid in the tens of million for the production of his documentaries and invited to Cannes when they're released. Nice as the occasional invitation to the White House Correspondents Dinner may be, the two just don't compare.
So there's an acute desire on the part of the press to separate what Moore does from what they do, both in order to explain away his successes and to underscore their own assumed strengths (objectivity, rationality, etc). His failings may be manifold, but that hardly renders him unique. His treatment, however, is unique. The world is full of political provocateurs and public hotheads, but only Moore triggers the media's all-too-absent obsession with factual accuracy. Ann Coulter doesn't, and Al Franken doesn't, and Rush Limbaugh doesn't, and Mitt Romney doesn't. Only Moore. Because he scares them. "
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_msms_michael_moore_inferiority_complex
Posted by: Christy at July 12, 2007 04:15 PM
Northrop Grumman hired me for a week, then fired me for "gross incompetence," in the midst of the Wen Ho Lee scandal.
Never mind that I was the most competent worker in the bunch. It was RACIAL, plain and simple.
Unfortunately, since the government (under Clinton, at that) was busy doing the Lee witch hunt, it told me that I had no case. My opinion of both major political parties really tanked at that point - November 1999.
I even redeemed some airline coupons to fly to Amsterdam, with the intention of never coming back - but after taking a straight week of abuse from primitive Third World immigrants (Surinamese, in this case), I high-tailed it out of there.
And Christy, I am all for an invasion of Saudi Arabia, for its role in messing up the global economy and spread of the most extreme form of Islam. Iraq was a diversion.
I want to see the head of the Saudi king on a platter. LITERALLY.
Posted by: Ralpheh at July 12, 2007 03:19 PM
I can't take 8 more years of Republicans.
They'll have me exterminated or deported by then, if I haven't left on my own already.
I do agree with you that Hillary is not someone I trust my future with. To that end, I'll register as a Democrat at my new digs when I move in a few months - if only to vote in the primary.
GOP Pundit Outed In DC Madam Scandal
Summary: On MSNBC’s Scarborough Country, Republican strategist Jack Burkman, echoing right-wing pundit Ann Coulter, whom he was defending, declared that “within hours of those [World Trade Center] towers going down,” the wives of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks “were ready to make money and exploit this tragedy!”
http://www.crooksandliars.com/
Posted by: Christy at July 12, 2007 12:57 PM
The Towers weren't just the ones going down. I am pretty sure Burkman was going down - on Coulter's male bits.
I swear there are more republicans sticking knives in Vitter than Romans sticking Julius Caesar.
AND NONE OF IT really seems to have much to do with the hooker thing.
This guy must really be special.
Tidmore Vindicated, Responds to Vitter Revelations
http://www.votetidmore.com/2007/07/tidmore_vindicated_responds_to.html
My question of the day to Rep. Boxer...
If impeachment should be on the table and you've always said that, then why did you go out campaigning with Joe Lieberman?
I'm serious, I have yet to see a dem respond cause all the republicans are taking up too much room reiterating they have HATED the bastard for years.
And like I said, it seems hookers are the LEAST of it. They are out to get him.
I seriously have never seen anything like it. They normally are in lockstep but vitter somehow has made a war between Louisiana republicans just flare up out of nowhere.
Wow, I'm both repulsed and compelled.
Should the U.S. begin a phased troop withdrawal from Iraq before the September assessment report is released?
Begin withdrawal
Wait for assessment
Not sure
{{{When I voted on the NOW page, 'Begin withdrawal' was already at 88%. Not that politicians would ever pay attention to any polls that scream 'Get the hell out now, dammit!' by margins approaching 80% or better for withdrawal, of course... they stand to gain too much financially from the US military continuing the illegal invasion/occupation of Iraq, so they wander around aimlessly, muttering in their beards about all the difficulties getting them out, discounting the fact that it only took a couple of months to move them in, so withdrawal could take place in the same amount of time as the invasion - which was televised originally, sans commercial interruption, when the war horror all began, so we know how long that took. IMHO, the withdrawal could take potentially the same amount of time. I guess no one believes we know how to calculate time....}}}
NOW online poll:
http://www.pbs.org/now/index.html#poll
Ally
I am not for the invasion of any place.
I'm your girl Ally.
I am still all for invading Saudi Arabia.
It is never too late for a good idea.
We already shoulda tossed the joint and kicked in every single door with a mailbox named bin laden in front of it.
We can 'liberate' Iraqis but not Saudis.
That is no fair.
I can't equate being a peace activist with invading anything either.
I am not a peace activist.
I prefer peace to war.
But some people just deserve to get their asses kicked.
Like Saudis.
Chains Of Love
by Los Lobos
I'm a prisoner here
By your design
And the key to the door
Oh I can't find
Closin' in here, baby
Are these four walls
Not even a dime will you give me
To make my one call
I don't know
What a man's suppose to do
When the joy is gone
Gone away from you
Ain't no hammer, ain't no rock
Can break the lock on these chains
These chains of love
I drag down the boulevard
This ball of steel
And the ties that bind me
Girl, are all too real
I gotta go free
Like a bird up in the air
Like a child in the school yard
Without a care
Ain't no hammer, ain't no rock
Can break the lock on these chains
Ain't no spell none I can tell
Can take away these chains
Ain't no how to get out
Outta these chains of love
These chains of love
Look at the clock
So much time
I Look again
And the hands are stopped
Ain't no hammer, ain't no rock
Can break the lock on these chains
Ain't no spell none I can tell
Can take away these chains
Ain't no how to get out
Outta these chains of love
These chains of love
Outta these chains of love
These chains of love
Hey Christy, how bout we skip invading the Saudis and go right to the source and kick the ever-loving-shit outta the Bush regime?
Sense-a-million
At Thursday's press conference, the president, long accused by critics of being stubborn, seemed to be trying so very hard to show he's not dismissing the GOP criticism.
Mr. Bush said he "listened very carefully to what they have to say," but in the next breath made clear maybe he's not necessarily listening that closely to the Republican pleas to let them help him chart a new course.
"I don't think Congress ought to be running the war," he said. "I think they ought to be funding our troops. I'm certainly interested in their opinion, but trying to run a war through resolution is a prescription for failure as far as I'm concerned, and we can't afford to fail."
I thought it was significant that while the president has previously said the war is testing the American psyche, he added a new line today. "There's war fatigue in America," said Mr. Bush, who also let his guard down a bit to admit he's feeling a bit of political fatigue himself.
While the president again repeated that he doesn't govern by polls, he did acknowledge a glimmer of frustration about how low his standing is with the American people -- even as he stood his ground when pressed by Ed Chen of Bloomberg News about how he can prosecute the war with such little popular support.
"You know, I guess I'm like any other political figure -- everybody wants to be loved, just sometimes the decisions you make and the consequences don't enable you to be loved," the president said. "And so when it's all said and done, Ed, if you ever come down and visit the old, tired, me down there in Crawford, I will be able to say I looked in the mirror and made decisions based upon principle, not based upon politics. And that's important to me."
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/12/ots.henry.bush.iraq/index.html
Posted by: monkey at July 12, 2007 09:32 PM
HAHAHA!
Amen.
Anti-invasion here too. And highest on my list of countries to involve ourselves in the peace process for are Sudan and Zimbabwe - long before the Saudis.
Invasion to effect a coup, as in Iraq, is definitely off target. To me.
Headlines in Australia are like this: US Troop Withdrawal When, Not If
Posted by: not my president at July 12, 2007 09:14 PM
Posted by: Christy at July 12, 2007 09:24 PM
Posted by: monkey at July 12, 2007 09:26 PM
Of course, I certainly do NOT advocate invading another country, with the thinly stretched-out, demoralized military that we have right now.
But I don't see any discrepancy, between being a peace activist, and fighting a war that some foreign power brings you against your will. And I do believe that the Saudis brought it to us with 9/11.
Besides, if the US keeps wanting to play the role of "the world's policeman" and "bringing democracy," the Saudis are a much more compelling target than the Iraqis ever were.
We should've picked the right battle in the so-called "war on terror." We picked the wrong one (Iraq), and now we're unable to fight the right one.
Woz,
Agreed about Sudan (Darfur) and Zimbabwe.
Mugabe is as evil as the Saud family.
Posted by: Ally McRepuke at July 12, 2007 09:59 PM
At a news conference Thursday, President Bush acknowledged al Qaeda's continuing threat to the United States and used the new report as evidence his administration's policies are on the right course.
"The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in America on September 11," he said. "That's why what happens in Iraq matters to security here at home."
Yet Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-West Virginia, said Iraq has distracted the United States. He said the U.S. should have finished off al Qaeda in 2002 and 2003 along the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Instead, "President Bush chose to invade Iraq, thereby diverting our military and intelligence resources away from the real war on terrorism," Rockefeller said. "Threats to the United States homeland are not emanating from Iraq. They are coming from al Qaeda leadership."
Rockefeller, who voted in favor of toppling Saddam Hussein, called for the U.S. to end its involvement in what he called the Iraqi civil war.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/12/terror.threat.ap/index.html
Didn't W say that finding Bin Laden was the least of his concerns?
"But I don't see any discrepancy, between being a peace activist, and fighting a war that some foreign power brings you against your will."
Again, Amen.
Exactly.
Christy,
And this is precisely why W is in the wrong - he starts war pre-emptively on personal vendettas, instead of responding to genuine harm done to the American people.
And thanks to our misadventures in Iraq, our troops are demoralized and overstretched - and they are no longer ready to defend the nation against genuine threats that may pop up in the future. Sure, we have half of the entire world's military budget, but even that's not enough to make up for the demoralization.
This is why peace is important - work things out through diplomacy, to defuse tensions before they ever flare up. We still need a good, able military, because there will always be some rogue powers that want to use force first. But smarter, not bigger (and that includes looking for peaceful means first) will win in the end.
Ronald Reagan had a good quote in 1988 about free people always wanting peace. It was on the DCP main page for a while too. Too bad, he liked starting pre-emptive invasions himself.
Christy
No country deserves to get its ass kicked. Saudi Arabia is many tribes and people of many types, some oppressed by their leaders, some crazy radicals who would do us all in. There is no way to kick the right asses.
Sensimillion!
We have a half trillion deficit and are in no position to even kick our own ass, besides. & who is the collective "we" - do you actually identify with your government (military-industrial complex) - I sure don't!
We had no business leaving forces in Saudi Arabia for so long after the Gulf War.
Blanket statements about attacking people are very reminiscent of the black/white logic of Bush and of Al Quaida.
Try diplomacy.
NMP,
The Saud family does need its behind kicked.
Cutting aid at the government level, and cutting petroleum consumption at the personal level, will go a long way toward doing that.
Some conservatives have been vocal about their hatred of the Saudis, but they are the ones feeding them by driving Hummers.
Got diplomacy?
Thats a tshirt.
We can't go attacking countries, especially to answer to terrorism - terrorists are individuals or small groups.
We can't attack Saudi Arabia. WHO in Saudi Arabia? The Royals? Some tribe? The Wahhabis? Using what intelligence? What translators? What soldiers? What weapons? Please stop this nonsense!
المملكة العربية السعودية
لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله
Put Your Hands Together
by The O'Jays
Come on, come on
Come on, y'all now
Put your hands together
Na-na-na-na
Put your hands together
Everybody now
Put your hands together
Na-na-na-na
Let us pray
We've got to pray for all
The brothers under thine hand
Pray for all the sisters
That's doing the best she can
Let us pray that tomorrow
There'll be a better
Day to come, yeah
We got to put our forces together
Sing a song so loud, so fair
That the birds in the trees
Hum along with me
Sweet harmony
Then let it thunder
Let it lightning, let it rain
Let it rain, let it rain
'Cause we're gonna sing
Glory Hallelujah so the
Whole wide world can hear
Come on, y'all, now
Put your hands together
Put your hands together
Put your hands together
And let us pray
We got to pray for all the people
Who are sleeping in the street
Pray for all the people
Who don't have enough to eat
Let us pray that tomorrow
There'll be a better day to come
Yeah, yeah, yeah
We got to put our forces together
Sing a song so loud, so fair
That the birds in the trees
Hum along with me
Sweet harmony
Then let it thunder
Let it lightning, let it rain
Let it rain, let it rain
'Cause we're gonna sing
Glory Hallelujah so the
Whole wide world can hear
Come on, come on
Put your hands together
Put your hands together
Put your hands together
And let us pray
Cause we're gonna sing
Sing Glory, Glory Hallelujah
Right here, right now
I said we're, we're, we're
We'll sing, singing
Glory, Glory Hallelujah
Come on, come on
Come on, come on
Put your hands together
Put your hands together
Put your hands together
Kumbaya
We need to have not abandoned alliances with other nations. We should not be making constant unilateral decisions in our own economic interests - that is to say, the economic interests of our richest 2 percent.
Neither should be be vindictive. The Saudis sell us oil because we buy it. It's their resource. Yes the royals gyp the people out of it, just as our royals' oil companies mark up our gas price at the pump via price fixing and manipulation of the strategic reserve.
Simplistic answers bring death to civilians.
Posted by: Ally McRepuke at July 12, 2007 10:05 PM
Yes, he said that something like that quite some time ago... so long ago I've forgotten when (two or more years ago, I think), but it's only been within the last year where I read that the "task force" the White House used to have to go after OBL has been disbanded.
The only time he's mentioned OBL is around the anniversaries of 9/11 and/or occasionally when Lamestream Media gets too close to reporting scandals instead of chasing after the bait of red herrings like Chertoff's farts waiting to happen that are telling him we "might" have a 'ter'rist' attack this summer. As soon as the press starts snooping around the edges of discovering what bloggers have known for all these years, up the 'ter'rist' genie pops for them to talk about. The only other topic that gets more air time are blonde bimbo infotainment celebrities who have done nothing to warrant being mentioned in serious 'news.' Usually he only talks about "al-Qaida-LIKE ter'rist organizations" or "al-Qaida groups" are mentioned when no one knows the name of any criminal gang that commits 'ter'rist' crimes. The criminals no longer have to actually BE al Qaida, OBL's old gang; any criminal group comes under the aegis of that name because it was somehow connected to the Saudis who hijacked the 9/11 planes and the Bin Laden who led the group - but it all funnels into fearmongering rhetoric to keep sheeple scared shitless.
Very carefully, of course, no one reminds Lamestream Media (or Georgie who holds hands with them, or Dickie and the rest of the criminal cabal who have extensive financial ties) of the fact that Saudi Arabia already hosts permanent US military bases while having extensive financial ties with the Bu$hCo crime family... et cetera. As long as no one mentions Saudi Arabia, they're out of sight, out of mind....
Ralph, sorry.
But I have to agree with the other standing argument in this case.
I will not be calling the White House. I have no need to talk to evil people who are there to pretend they CARE about what I have to say.
@@@@@@
The White House comment line operators are low-level, hapless volunteers. They actually BELIEVE that the president cares, the president tells the truth, that the president listens to the comments they write down.
I have pressed numerous operators on this question: who reads these comments? do any of them make it to the president? does he bother to read them? etc... Last week, my comment was "shut the comment line down, the president doesn't listen to these comments or the American people..."
My goal is to educate the operators (who are mostly clueless), put heat on these Washingtonians, and to needle the hard-core Bushie supporters who think they know it all.
I ask them, "Why do you bother to volunteer your time for one of the worst presidents in modern history.?"
Posted by: NonnyO at July 12, 2007 10:45 PM
Yes, the Saudi ties to the Bush family...
Don't even get me started on that. I will go on a rampage!
I can't take 8 more years of Republicans.
They'll have me exterminated or deported by then, if I haven't left on my own already.
I do agree with you that Hillary is not someone I trust my future with. To that end, I'll register as a Democrat at my new digs when I move in a few months - if only to vote in the primary.
Posted by: Ally McRepuke at July 12, 2007 08:24 PM
@@@@@
If Hillary is nominated, I'll go into Congressional mode campaigning and make damn sure there are some decent Dems elected to Congress in 2008.
On that note, Al Franken is running for the Senate in Minnesota against Norm Coleman. I think Al has a good shot (Minnesota being Blue).
My Congressional district is targeted - the incumbent is a weak, disliked Neanderthal conservative Republican - by Lansing and perhaps D.C..
losing nutrisystem http://nutrisystem1.vdforum.ru >nutrisystem threats
Ally
Our ties with Saudi Arabia go back to FDR. If not for him, they would not have joined the League of Nations, UN and the WTO. They didn't even know they had oil til the 1930s.
Saudi Arabia is headed toward "peak oil." They are exaggerating the size of their reserves in order to maintain high OPEC prices. Their production has gone down 40% since the 1970s but their population under 30 has tripled, and the per capital income has gone down 80%, so it's less than $5000 per person.
We could do without their oil. The House of Saud is obnoxious and the Sharia law and Wahabist strict system of justice and government is restrictive but the Bush administration has only been after oil, as all other administrations which preceded them going back since it was known they had oil under them.
The only threats to the monarchy have been Al Quaida and a couple of coup attempts, one by radical Shiites, one by radical Sunnis.
Peak oil will do them in, as 90% of their revenues depend on oil and the country is otherwise a welfare state, more or less. The population is highly educated, there in religious schools or abroad via scholarship for skills the country needs. They have fixed their budget deficit but went into debt quickly fighting Iraq during the Gulf war, saved now largely by assets they hold abroad (such as alot of US mortgages).
They are going down, for many reasons, but it would be a mistake for us to attack them, as the two holiest shrines of Islam are in Saudi Arabia.
There is a certain hypocrisy in having attacked Iraq in particular, and especially since it was done based on lies about human rights and weapons violations of Saddam when there are a number of worse offenders, including arguably the Saudis. Our government is way too codependent with Saudi Arabia to have attacked them and it would have been a quagmire anyway.
We can't go attacking countries, especially to answer to terrorism - terrorists are individuals or small groups.
Posted by: not my president at July 12, 2007 10:37 PM
"Terrorist" is a word now used to scare sheeple. The CRIMINALS who commit CRIMINAL ACTS leave the victims feeling fearful, or 'terrorized.' Feeling 'terrorized' is an emotional and mental reaction to a violent crime. Terrorism is a concept, not an overt act. The CRIME is the overt act that led to a mental concept, an emotional feeling. For instance, rape is a very personal criminal act which leaves a victim feeling terrorized in multiple personal ways. As such, the personal closeness of the criminal act can have the potential of leaving a victim traumatized for years. Thus, the crime of rape might be said to be an act of 'personal terrorism,' but the crime itself is still labeled rape. The perpetrator would be charged in a court of law with rape; he wouldn't be charged with terrorism. The "terrorist acts" that Bu$hCo propaganda machine uses so effectively are CRIMES - anything from property crimes to murder, but if the perpetrators don't kill themselves in the commission of their crimes, they would be charged with murder or some kind of crimes against property, but they wouldn't be charged with 'terrorism' or the feelings victims get after a crime has been committed.
The words terror, terrorism, terrorist are used to scare people in to being afraid of being afraid. And Lamestream Media bobbleheads use those words at the behest of the propaganda department of the Bu$hCo White House. I'm not sure it's all that effective. The plethora of many genres of scary movies have been used to "entertain" those who like those kinds of movies, so 'being scared to death' is a form of 'entertainment' nowadays. When the movie is over, the viewers go on with normal lives.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070713/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush
Bush dismisses CIA leak as old news
President Bush always said he would wait to talk about the CIA leak case until after the investigation into his administration's role. On Thursday, he skipped over that step and pronounced the matter old news hardly worth discussing.
"It's run its course," he said. "Now we're going to move on."
Despite a long history of denouncing leaks, Bush declined to express any disappointment in the people who worked for him and who were involved in disclosing the name of a CIA operative. Asked about that during a wide-ranging news conference, the president gave a dodgy answer.
"It's been a tough issue for a lot of people in the White House," he said.
He didn't even acknowledge the undisputed fact that someone working for him was the source, saying only that "perhaps somebody in the administration did disclose the name of that person."
{Gee, by the wording in this article one would think the writer is "disappointed" in the Resident Moron running this country.... Click on link for more.}
Whether called terrorists or criminals, lone agents or small cells cannot be apprehended using bombs and tanks.
As for Osama, he could have been probably apprehended at Tora Bora in 2001 had special forces been on the ground. As it is, the unit charged with apprehending him was disbanded in 2005. No formal charges have ever been made relative to September 11th other than for Massouie (sp?).
Yes bogeymen have been created around all this - Osama was featured on South Park, Family Guy, and 2DTV as a cartoon character and in Planet Terror (in Grindhouse) where he creates a biological weapon that turns all Americans into zombies. He was killed too soon so a virus spread over the earth.
The Bin Laden phenomena can be traced to a) House of Saud's failure to create options for educated youth returning to Saudi Arabia, b) continued festering relations between Israel and other factions in the middle east and perceived western support, c) US continued presence on Saudi soil following the Gulf War, d) the Saudi government's failure to accept bin Laden's offer of 12,000 armed men to fight in 1991, e) Saudi Arabia's failure to extradite him from Sudan so he fled to Afghanistan, f) CIA's failure to know who he really was til 1996 and utilization of he and the "mujahadin" (arming them with weapons paid for with our tax money) to fight the Soviets by proxy in Afghanistan, g) failure of this government to heed warnings repeatedly (they blame Clinton, who had a reward on his head and lobbed a few missiles his way). Those of us who remember the millennium well know Clinton was well aware of the potential for terror attacks.
It's a semantic argument about criminal vs terrorist but I get the point and agree that it is an issue of crime fighting not conventional warfare, which is doomed to fail.
Posted by: not my president at July 13, 2007 12:09 AM
I totally agree it's all doomed to fail. That's why after 9/11 when pretzelnitwit started talking war immediately without anyone fact-or-reality-checking him, and worse, parroting him and supporting him, I was so aghast. Starting a war - in a country that didn't even have anything to do with the the horror of the day - was not only over-kill (no pun intended, but if it works, use it) and a war crime (Geneva Conventions), it was sheer insanity.
Happy Friday the 13th....
;-)
nmp
nonny
Actually, the distinction between terrorist acts and criminal behaviour has really created a clear line to me. Whilst we talk of terrorism as being something we're fighting - it will never be solved. Actually it won't ever be solved. Look at the organized crime in almost every country on the planet. We all know it exists and occasionally we're caught in the crossfire, but they usually keep it amongst themselves, except for the smuggling of drugs and other illegals.
For every terrorist cell we close down - and frankly I don't think we will ever CLOSE one - a new one will sprout to seek revenge for their *colleagues* demise. The words are the excuse to go to war. Nothing else. That was very clever of the Bush Regime to call it "terrorism" because the picture that was snapped into our brains, image by image, simultaneously with the spoken word "terrorists", struck fear into the hearts of everyone who's ever travelled by commercial aircraft.
These criminals on their suicide mission flew America's jet aircraft and no one stopped them. They simply walked down the ramp and settled into the cockpit.
And the single most effective word in the aftermath was *terrorists*.
On that note, Al Franken is running for the Senate in Minnesota against Norm Coleman. I think Al has a good shot (Minnesota being Blue).
Posted by: Ralpheh at July 12, 2007 10:57 PM
My advice: NEVER take any "blue" state for granted.
For example, California is the bluest of the blue according to the media, yet the reality is anything but. Some of the nation's reddest areas are in California.
As for Minnesota, it's turned redder over recent years, so truly don't take anything for granted.
It isn't going to stop me from flying in both August and September (the fear mongering). & do you know that flights are still more cheap and available around 9/11? I wasn't thinking about that last time I booked - just looking for a bargain. Lightning doesn't strike in the same place twice.
Not saying it's not a threat but it's relatively hypothetical, along with alot of other things that are mostly beyond our everyday control.
NMP -
Thanks for the background information.
Of course, invading Saudi Arabia would create a lot of animosity in the Muslim world, especially because of the Muslim holy sites in that country. In many ways, invading would be a stupid mistake.
But we're making even dumber mistakes, right now, in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
Oil is the only thing that's keeping the Saudis going well, as you point out, and I do hope that the post-petroleum economy sets in as soon as possible, so that the Saudis will not have as much influence over us. (For that matter, the same for the Bush family and the oil companies.)
possibly of interest and/or relevance:
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
POCKET PARADIGMS : Global Dumbing
Global dumbing involves the virtually imperceptible but steady
deterioration of the aggregate human mind -- as well as of its
institutions -- much as the temperature of the earth is apparently rising at a rate so minuscule that scientists will be still be debating its escalation even as the waters of the Atlantic Ocean lap at the potted plants in the lobby of the Trump Plaza. In fact, global warming and global dumbing are intimately connected. Without the latter, something actually might be done before that portion of Washington below the fall line of the Potomac is totally submerged. And like global warming, global dumbing concerns itself with losses incurred by energy transfers and nature's ceaseless quest for the random equilibrium of chaos. It is, in short, the entropy of the human spirit and of the
systems it has created.
In earlier times, it was possible to avoid cultural entropy by stealing energy from somewhere else. This, of course, was the foundation of slave trade, the British Empire and various new world orders of the first half of 20th century. While it still goes on, energy theft has become more difficult as the world has steadily lost its cultural, political, environmental and economic differentiation.
A cursory examination of American business suggests that its major product is wasted energy. Compute all the energy loss created by corporate lawyers, Washington lobbyists, marketing consultants, CEO benefits, advertising agencies, leadership seminars, human resource supervisors, strategic planners and industry conventions and it is amazing that this country has any manufacturing base at all. We have created an economy based not on actually doing anything, but on facilitating, supervising, planning, managing, analyzing, tax advising, marketing, consulting or defending in court what might be done if we had time to do it. The few remaining truly productive companies become immediate targets for another entropic activity, the leveraged buyout.
If global dumbing is not halted, we may wake up one morning and find that no one in this country knows how to make anything anymore. We may discover our dearest friends and relatives in a catatonic state before the TV and the device won't even be on. When we call for help we may find that 911 has become an endless loop voice mail system from which one can never disconnect. We may even, some day, elect a hologram as
president -- and be too dumb to realize it.
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW
Washington's Most Unofficial Source
Editor: Sam Smith
UNDERNEWS: http://prorev.com/indexa.htm
Posted by: not my president at July 13, 2007 12:45 AM
9/11 is also cheap because it's right after Labor Day, and that's when demand for flights eases off anyway.
I think I'm done flying for the year - it's so d*mn hard to get even a weekend day off, much less entire weeks, for me.
Myths of the War on Terrorism
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/07/myths_of_the_war_on_terrorism.html
Excerpt:
Only rarely can al Qaeda and its imitators manage a strike against their prime enemies, Britain and the United States, and even more rarely can they succeed. Like the alleged terrorists who planned to attack Fort Dix and JFK International Airport, the perpetrators in Britain were not trained professionals but bumbling amateurs.
On Sept. 12, 2001, it was easy to believe that we would suffer dozens of major attacks on U.S. soil over the next six years, and almost impossible to imagine we would suffer none. Instead of being the opening blitz of a "long, global war," 9/11 was a freak event that may never be replicated.
In a real war, such as the ones we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, many people die, week in and week out. But John Mueller, a national security professor at Ohio State University, notes that in a typical year, no more than a few hundred people are killed worldwide in attacks by al Qaeda and similar groups outside of war zones.
That's too many, but it's not a danger on the order of Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union or even Saddam Hussein. It's more like organized crime -- an ongoing problem demanding unceasing vigilance, a malady that can be contained but never eliminated.
By framing the fight as a global war, we have helped Osama bin Laden and hurt ourselves. Had we treated him and his confederates as the moral equivalent of international drug lords or sex traffickers, the organization might not have the romantic image it has acquired. By exaggerating the potential impact, we also magnified the disruptive effect of any plots, which is just what the terrorists seek.
We do further harm to ourselves by accepting government actions we would never tolerate except in the context of war.
Lightning doesn't strike in the same place twice.
Posted by: not my president at July 13, 2007 12:45 AM
I know a few who would disagree with you there, nmp. And I saw a documentary on that very subject and it seems that a person who is struck by lightning once has a higher likelihood of it happening again. On the documentary were doctors and others who'd been involved with a guy who'd been struck 4 or 5 times. Something to do with "earthing" electricity.
However, I'd be going for the cheaper flights and available seats regardless. And for the superstitious amongst us, today is Friday 13th.
Posted by: not my president at July 13, 2007 12:58 AM
That's a great site. It almost says exactly what I've been thinking and saying since day 1.
Black Friday
by Steely Dan
When Black Friday comes, I'll stand down by the door
And catch all the grey men as they dive from the fourteenth floor
When Black Friday comes, I'll collect everything I'm owed
And before my friends find out I'll be on the road
When Black Friday falls, you know it's got to be
Don't let it fall on me
When Black Friday comes, I'll fly down to Muswellbrook
Gonna strike all the big red words from my little black book
Gonna do just what I please, gonna wear no socks and shoes
With nothing to do but feed all the Kangaroos
When Black Friday comes, I'll be on that hill
You know I will
(rippin solo here...)
When Black Friday comes, I'm gonna dig myself a hole
Gonna lay down in it till I satisfy my soul
Gonna let the world pass by me, the Archbishop gonna sanctify me
And if he don't come across I' m gonna let it roll
When Black Friday comes, I'm gonna stake my claim
I guess I'll change my name
McCain campaign official denies soliciting for prostitution
(CNN) -- A day after four of Sen. John McCain's top political strategists stepped down, the co-chairman of his Florida campaign was arrested Wednesday for allegedly offering an undercover police officer money for a sex act, Titusville police said.
Florida state Rep. Bob Allen faces charges of solicitation for prostitution after he was arrested in a Titusville city park that had been under surveillance, police said.
He allegedly offered an undercover police officer $20 for the unspecified act. His attorney, Philip Lupo of Titusville, said the charge was a second-degree misdemeanor.
Allen told CNN affiliate WFTV the incident was "a very big misunderstanding."
"This is a very gross mistake, a very big mistake," he said, adding that this is what the judicial system is for.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/12/mccain.campaign/index.html
A very gross mistake INDEED, Pokey!
(Sorry if this has been posted already.)
GREAT diary/analysis about the potential strategy the Dems are using as grounds for impeachment. I've got my fingers crossed (and it's damn hard to type that way).
Is Nancy Pelosi a freakin' GENUIS?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/12/202315/831
(BTW, my answer is a resounding "Yes" to that question.)
I'm having trouble getting past Titusville being the location of sexual crime.
Posted by: woz at July 13, 2007 08:42 AM
:-] It does sound like the name of a perverse theme park, don't it?
(... ok, it's actually pronounced, Tight-Us_ville, butt even that is pretty damned hard to say without crackin a smile)
Only in I'm Erica
"They actually BELIEVE that the president cares,"
Ok Ralph I will revise what I said...
I have no need to talk to STUPID people that 'actually believes the president cares'.
What is the point?
AND as far as Saudi Arabia goes.
Yes, I know attacking them would cause quite the same quagmire, however, if we are going to send our kids to die, then atleast we can tell their mothers they actually died fighting the son of a bitches that attacked us.
Who would I attack? Well, that is easy, the Houseof Saud and every house with a bin laden in it.
BTW, attacking Saudi Arabia would very very very different than attacking Iraq. Mostly because we could attack them from INSIDE their country. Our military is already dug in like ticks on a bloodhound. And the Saudi people hate their own leaders almost as much as we do. They have good reason to hate them.
Yes, the Sudan is a pressing issue, but bin laden is still out there. He is most likely already back in Saudi Arabia.
Regardless of what happened since September 11th, we still have the same problem we had on Sept 12th 2001.
My friends who are repatriating to Canada live in Titusville.
Whoever the diary writer is - brilliant. Will it happen? I'm not confident.
Who would I attack? Well, that is easy, the House of Saud and every house with a bin laden in it. Christy (post above)
You will find large, powerful dysfunctional families a lot closer than that who are affecting you alot more.
Those who would seek "vengeance" for 9/11 had best seek out the roots of poverty. Those who did the crime weren't poor but the conditions that led to their mindset came from unfair distribution of resources and control through fanaticism and dynasties. It's complex enough that there are so many players that are so intertwined that there is no way to seek eye-for-eye "justice."
It makes me violently ill to hear people speak of attacking others but makes me forge ahead more than anything.
madame defarge
Thanks for opening my eyes to the DailyKos diary re Pelosi etc. - I saw it last night and was curious but too tired to read and would probably have let it pass out of work obligation etc. - now it's torqued my thinking a little and perked up my antennae in a different way. I am definitely visualizing something interesting up ahead and hoping that each news mouse click will bring us closer.
I have to get ready but in scanning headlines, I see things that indicate something I hadn't thought of.
In my liberal mind, I see a negative halfway point report preceding the Iraq report in September as cause to bring the troops home - the "surge" isn't working.
To the administration, negative reports now and in September will lead them to believe that the "surge" should be extended, and they will try to use the disaster to justify it, which is crazy but ..
Christy
One more - I don't think our military would attack Saudi Arabia from inside the country because their boss LIKES the Saudi royals. The Saudi people don't but they are in a rough position to revolt (if we think WE have it bad .. we're only heading in their direction in this country).
Our military being inside Saudi Arabia is one thing that got Bin Laden started. & we've removed alot of it since then. We are talking about at least five factions (and subfactions down to the infinitesimal within that).
- The Saudi royalty
- the Saudi military (which is huge and multi-branched)
- the Saudi oil complex
- the Saudi sheep (the "base" and the sleeping)
- the Saudi dissidents (powerless authority questioners)
- the Saudi bad guys (AG et al)
- The US lameduck dynasty
- the US military
- the US Cheney/vampire oil-drinking complex
- the US sheep (the "base" and the sleeping)
- the US dissidents (powerless authority questioners)
- the US bad guys (sleeper cells et al)
- the rest of the Arab world
- the rest of the middle east that isn't Arab (Iran etc)
- the rest of the nonArab world (Royals/Bush "base")
- the rest of the nonArab world (powerless authority questioners)
It is not about vengence.
I agree poverty breeds desperation and desperation breeds homicidal and suicial people, but we are not talking about 15 out of 19 poor hapless people wondering around with nothing else to do but kill.
The attacks on 911 were an absolute act of war sponsered by whom? The house of Saud and the bin laden family.
Just because bush is covering up the money trail does not mean they erased it. We all know who finances him and just because they will not just openly confess does not mean it was not a GOVERNMENT SANCTIONED act of war.
I grew up in a very violent place with very violent people. Poverty was perhaps the main issue. I learned a long time ago how to keep my hands to myself and as I said I prefer peace, I prefer non violence.
But, yes. Yes there are people on this earth that do DESERVE to get their asses kicked. And if we must engage in an act of war, then it should be directly against the nation that sent their people to kill us.
If this were about vengence, then I would not base all this on 911, but on the day I listened to one of Osamas bombs explode in my ear while I was speaking to my husband at this place called Khobar Towers.
In my mind, I can still hear that bomb just as clearly as the moment it happened. That bomb eventually wound up blowing apart my marrige, my life.
I watched my husband slowly go insane from the memories. He knew he had been betrayed and he was quite clear who had betrayed him. The Saudi Royal Family. He did not want revenge, he wanted justice.
This is not about revenge.
This is about how it is the Saudi Royal Family keeps winding up in the middle of almost every plot to kill our soldiers and our people for the last 2 decades.
I do believe we should go ask them to their faces.
Posted by: not my president at July 13, 2007 09:05 AM
There has never been any doubt in my mind that these reports would change this administration's war strategy. They have no intention of changing their "course" or bringing troops home. They're just stalling for time.