September 2006 Archives

One of the oddly weird things about the Foley scandal is that one of the boys was a page of Louisiana Rep. Rodney Alexander (a Democrat who defected to Republicanism). Why is this strange? Because just a few weeks ago, ANOTHER staffer of Rodney Alexander was fired--for carrying on a correspondence with the infamous Scott Peterson.

What the hell is going on in that office?

UPDATE: As for Foley himself, this passage from Newsweek defies common sense:

An energetic, capable politician... [Foley's] sexuality did not seem to be an issue with voters. In Washington he made little effort to hide his sexual orientation, and neither his colleagues nor his staff seemed to worry that he might be a predator.

Gosh -- everyone knew he was gay? More importantly, he was an openly gay man who chaired the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus -- in a Republican Party dominated by the Christian Right? And this was OK? Wow -- I guess the right-wing theocrats are a lot more flexible than I thought.

Where's Dobson on this? Phyllis Schlafly? William Donahue? When are they going to speak up? Will any of them profess ignorance of Foley's character? Will any of them hint that they were told "it was all right?" Did Dennis Hastert tell any of them that he was on the case?

(HT to Miss Julie)

The video is short -- just 5 minutes. Watch the whole thing, then share it with your friends. Just click the SHARE button (lower right corner of video screen) and insert the appropriate email addresses.

Don't wait -- the election is less than 40 days off. If Bush and the Republicans hold onto their majority, God only knows what's in store for this country over the next two years.

This is what people will be discussing for the next 7 days, at least...

Watch it now and then share it with your friends. Time is tight -- the election is almost on top of us. Get the word out: Vote Democratic and stop Bush before it is too late.

NBC News:

Bob Woodward's new book, State of Denial, accuses US officials of deliberately trying to mislead the public about the worsening state of the war in Iraq.

Bob Woodward: There is public and then there is private. But what did they do with the private? They stamped it secret. No one is supposed to know. Why is that secret?

The book, to be released Monday, also claims senior US officials in Iraq urgently called for more troops as early as September, 2003 to contain the growing insurgency. But they were ignored -- the assessments considered too pessimistic.

Woodward: The insurgents know what they're doing, the level of violence and how effective they are.

Who doesn't know? The American public.

Victor Borge is one of my favorite performers. This man still makes me laugh...

"I'd like to thank my parents for making this night possible. And my children for making it necessary."

Wikipedia:

Victor Borge (January 3, 1909 -- December 23, 2000) was a humorist, entertainer and world-class pianist affectionately known as the Clown Prince of Denmark and the Great Dane. He was born in Copenhagen, Denmark as Borge Rosenbaum and died in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA.

Our occupation of Iraq has gone on so long and has been botched so badly that a very strong majority of Iraqis want to leave their country immediately.

In fact, some Iraqis believe that America has purposefully encouraged a civil war in order to have an excuse to stay on indefinitely.

So in a weird way, New Orleans and Baghdad have become sister cities -- mirror images of each other. In short, Bush's incompetence at saving both cities seems to be purposeful. In the case of New Orleans, Bush wants to show that government can never succeed. And in the case of Baghdad, he wants to show that government can succeed -- through permanent occupation of a sovereign nation.

More on what the Iraqi people think of this...

Think Progress has the goods.

I think that's what Bush loyalists are thinking as evidenced by their "non-partisan" analysis and discussion of the PDB of August, 2001 and Bush's reaction (translation: "none") to it.

It would be more entertaining (and insightful perhaps) to read their take on Bush's "The Pet Goat" moment, less than 5 weeks later, when the venue was different but the reaction was the same: nothing.

Anyone?

First, Bill Clinton spanks Chris Wallace.

And now here come the pushbacks -- Terry McAulliffe spanks Tucker Carlson; Chris Matthews spanks Ed Gillespie; and Al Franken spanks Tony Blankley.

It's about time!

Jim Webb knows how to speak plainly and directly about the Republican failure in the Iraq War.

"We need leaders in the US Senate, not followers."

I am working to resolve the situation.

If you are experiencing the inability to leave comments, please let me know (ara@NOSPAMrubyan.com). And if you are experiencing no problems, please let me know THAT too. Thanks.

UPDATE: All fixed.

Back in the day, political campaigns marshalled their supporters based on broad characteristics such as where they lived. Democrats would concentrate on cities and Republicans, on the suburbs.

But that was then, this is now:

In their search for voters, Republican strategists can quickly pull up information not only about voting histories, age, address and marital status, but also consumer habits, vehicle ownership, magazine subscriptions, church membership, hobbies, major purchases -- even whether a household prefers bourbon over gin. (Bourbon drinkers tend to be Republican; gin is more often a Democrat's drink).

Keith Olbermann:

The nation's freedoms are under assault by an administration whose policies can do us as much damage as Al-Qaeda; the nation's "marketplace of ideas" is being poisoned, by a propaganda company so blatant that Tokyo Rose would've quit.

Nonetheless....

...the headline is this: Bill Clinton did what almost none of us have done, in five years. He has spoken the truth about 9/11, and the current presidential administration.

...when the average Medicare enrollee falls into Medicare Part D's donut hole, the gap in coverage for those beneficiaries with annual drug costs between $2,250 and $5,100.

When that happens, millions of seniors caught in the donut hole will go to the pharmacy this fall and be forced to pay thousands of dollars for prescriptions.

Another fiasco brought to you by the rubber-stamp Republican majority Congress.

Bless You Boys!

UPDATE: Look at it like this...the last time the Tigers were in the playoffs, my son was one month old. He's now a sophmore in college.

(Cross posted at Daily Kos)

In the closing weeks of the campaign season, the White House has begun its final battle to control the daily news cycle and gain the high ground in the traditional media. The stakes are high -- he who controls the news cycle controls the perception of millions of members of his own base. And he who control perception, controls reality. The same thing works on the Democratic base: if our morale goes down because we think the Republicans are turning the tide, it could affect turnout in November.

Last week, the White House promoted the stories of crazy Chavez and evil Ahmadinejad battling gallant Bush at the UN. That was followed by the rumor that Osama had eaten some bad spinach and was no more. Lastly, the White House touted the "torture compromise" and how they "relented" to the Republican "rebels" in the Senate. His base takes heart, while some in our base are discouraged, if even for just a moment or two.

This week opens with Bush grieving in private for the tens of thousands of war casualties that he caused. Oh, noble, sensitive, Dear Leader! No doubt we'll also get some more warnings about TNT -- terror and taxes -- and how the Democrats will destroy our security and prosperity if they gain the majority in November.

Unfortunately, the Democrats do not have the advantage in the news cycle wars because they literally do not have a single spokesman. But stories do get out: there is is toxic report that the NIE is saying that terrorism has gotten worse because of the war in Iraq. And don't underestimate the effect of Clinton's CGI followed by his pushback on Fox News. There are other stories, but you get the picture. Our base gets fired up by those stories.

Obviously, there's a lot at stake: Bush's numbers have risen whenever the White House pushes its narrative; and that alone becomes a story that can control a news cycle. So think of Bush as a parrot with a ball and chain attached to his leg. He can flap his wings for a while and get airborne. But eventually the ball brings him back to earth, exhausted, until the next try.

But there is a more important analogy, one that the White House would surely acknowledge: Bush is on a see-saw along with the Democrats. Sometimes he's up and the Democrats are down; and vice-versa. The only thing that matters is this -- who will get off the see-saw first?

(Cross posted at Daily Kos)

This snippet comes buried in a longer, more negative article about RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman.

Are the Democrats organized like this? If not, why not?

by Mark Adams

LGF has it, so does Hot Air's Allahpundit, Volokh Conspiracy and Power Line.

Dean has two posts, so does Wiz Bang.  Michelle Malkin quickly ran with the rumor along with Blogs for Bush as soon as InstaLinker alerted the alternate winger media.  Protein Wisdom accurately predicts that the timing will be questioned.

To be fair, Josh Marshall beat them all to the punch, right after Metafilter announced that UBL may have been dead for a month now.

They all posted on the rumor, and that's all it is.  But not one of the blogs I just listed by name, none of the prominent right wing blogers, not even Josh (one of my heros) -- only Metafilter even mentions the real NEWS, the fact that the official consensus of the 16 US intelligence agencies have concluded in the first National Intelligence Estimate since the toppling of Saddam Hussein that the Iraq War has made the threat from terrorism worse.

If you think you're well informed, but your only reading things on Captain Ed's blogroll, you're not getting news.  Your only getting rumors and propaganda.

by Mark Adams

UPDATED BELOW

History will determine that the signature events of the Bush Administration concern terrorism and Iraq.  I say this without benefit of a crystal ball, but defy any reasonable person to challenge this assertion.

History's verdict will of course be clouded by virtue of both the facts as they develop and who is telling the tale.  However, if we are to believe the experts of the day, today, George Bush's prosecution of the War on Terror is a catastrophe -- in principle part because of the ineptitude of his handling of the Iraq war.

New York Times:  Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat

The classified National Intelligence Estimate attributes a more direct role to the Iraq war in fueling radicalism than that presented either in recent White House documents or in a report released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee, according to several officials in Washington involved in preparing the assessment or who have read the final document.

The intelligence estimate, completed in April, is the first formal appraisal of global terrorism by United States intelligence agencies since the Iraq war began, and represents a consensus view of the 16 disparate spy services inside government. Titled “Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States,’’ it asserts that Islamic radicalism, rather than being in retreat, has metastasized and spread across the globe.

An opening section of the report, “Indicators of the Spread of the Global Jihadist Movement,” cites the Iraq war as a reason for the diffusion of jihad ideology.

The report “says that the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse,” said one American intelligence official.

Glenn Greewald says, "This report alone ought to dictate the outcome of the election."  And if only an honest appraisal of circumstances and consequences had a thing to do with American politics, it would matter.

I surely must not be the first (nor the last) person to point this out, but the McCain/Bush "compromise" on torture is illegal because it goes against Article VI of the US Constitution.

First, some background.

McCain won't authorize torture, but he won't prevent it, either:

Mr. Bush wanted Congress to formally approve these practices and to declare them consistent with the Geneva Conventions. It will not. But it will not stop him either, if the legislation is passed in the form agreed on yesterday. Mr. Bush will go down in history for his embrace of torture and bear responsibility for the enormous damage that has caused.

May you be inscribed in the Book of Life for a good year.

[I posted this before I saw Mark's previous post below. Sorry, Mark!]

Slated for Fox News Sunday, Sept. 24:

Chris WALLACE: Do you think you did enough [to get Bin Laden] sir?

CLINTON: No, because I didn’t get him.

WALLACE: Right…

CLINTON: But at least I tried. That’s the difference in me and some, including all the right wingers who are attacking me now. They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to try and they didn’t…I tried. So I tried and failed. When I failed I left a comprehensive anti-terror strategy and the best guy in the country, Dick Clarke… So you did FOX’s bidding on this show. You did you nice little conservative hit job on me. But what I want to know..

WALLACE: Now wait a minute sir…

CLINTON:…

WALLACE: I asked a question. You don’t think that’s a legitimate question?

CLINTON: It was a perfectly legitimate question but I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked this question of. I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked: Why didn’t you do anything about the Cole? I want to know how many you asked: Why did you fire Dick Clarke? I want to know…

WALLACE: We asked…

CLINTON:…

WALLACE: Do you ever watch Fox News Sunday sir?

CLINTON: I don’t believe you ask them that.

WALLACE: We ask plenty of questions of…

CLINTON: You didn’t ask that did you? Tell the truth.

WALLACE: About the USS Cole?

CLINTON: Tell the truth.

WALLACE: I…with Iraq and Afghanistan there’s plenty of stuff to ask.

CLINTON: Did you ever ask that?

by Mark Adams

Much to my eternal dismay, I'm not jewish enough to refrain from blogging tonight, but will wish all a Happy New Year and hope you all have a prospersous 5767 (except for the ham sandwich eating Senator Macac-Allen, who should be looking for a new job in a few weeks.)

I couldn't resist posting an update to Ara's entry a couple of weeks ago about President Bill Clinton "barking" at ABC for the fraudumentary on 9/11 which twisted the reality of the previous administration's anti-terror efforts.

Bubba smacked the clever "little smirk" right off Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace's face in an interview set to be aired this Sunday when, in typical Fox fashion, instead of keeping to their original promise to spend half of the time addressing Clinton's initiative to raise $7.3 Billion to combat world-wide problems like climate change, health care, poverty and intolerance -- they sandbagged the former President. (HT to Judd at Think Progress.)

No sooner did Clinton mention the initials of the Clinton Global Initiative ("CGI") in response to Wallace's fouth question about what was different about what an acting President could accomplish versus a former POTUS,  a perfectly decent set-up to continue talking about the program, Wallace abruptly changed the subject.

Instead of following up with Clinton's mention of the programs intitials (what does that stand for, what are it's goals, what has it done so far, etc.), Wallace came out with what seems to have been just too irresitable for this wingnut hack.

(Cross posted at Daily Kos)

I've been around long enough to remember what it was like living under the Nixon administration: subject to the draft, vulnerable to unconstitutional power-grabs like Cointelpro, and witnessing the whole snakepit of lawbreaking that lay beneath what we now call "Watergate." And when Nixon went down I viewed it as a triumph -- the system had righted itself.

Many years later, when Miss Julie worried about the state of the nation should Bush be re-elected in 2004, I told her that the country survived Nixon back then and we'd survive Bush this time.

But I may have spoken too soon.

McSweeney's has a lovely parody of an RIAA threat-letter:

If you would prefer not to be stripped of your home and dignity, please send us $3,750 in the return envelope.

If your toddler has been named in this lawsuit, explain to them that the fruits of their labor as an adult will go to pay a debt that will ultimately lead to their death at a young age due to their inability to afford medical insurance. Toddlers never understand that, but they'll get the point if you make them cry.

Wanker.

No matter what you think, no matter what you hear from your like-minded friends, no matter what you hope, this fact is plain: Republicans are better at getting their voters to the polls than Democrats are. And this is the main reason they keep winning elections.

There are lots of reason for that. One big one -- we aren't very good at "profiling." For example, Republicans already know that people who live in the exurbs and drive American made trucks and SUVs are likely to vote for Republican candidates. So they get easily available mailing lists of truck and SUV owners and then they sort via zip code and send direct mail to these folks. Many of these people are already on their lists as likely voters; but many are not. And by finding and convincing the ones that were not previously identified, the Republicans gain a huge advantage over Democrats.

Now I've picked a simplistic example here, but multiply this by 100 times in volume and sophistication and you'll realize that the Democrats are outgunned when it comes to GOTV activity.

So if we want Democrats to take the majority of one or both houses of Congress, we better find sympathetic voters out there and make sure they get to the polls and vote for Democrats.

Now I'm not suggesting that you launch a sophisticated data-mining project this close to the election. But there are things you can do to help bring our people to the polls (HT to Christy Hardin Smith):

• MoveOn.org is putting together some "Call for Change" house parties for people to make calls to GOTV.  You can find information on how to host one or participate here.
  
  
• You can register to vote here (or help friends and relatives register to vote).
  
  
• Lots and lots of volunteer opportunities at the DoMoreThanVote website.  Check it out!
  
  
• The DNC website is still working its "100 Days" campaign.  Lots of great ideas here!
  
  
• Contact your local Democratic group and offer some time to volunteer for canvassing, phone calls, filling out mailers, whatever.  Also, check into Democracy for America.  Or any number of other groups that work on progressive issues.
  
  
• The AFL-CIO and other labor groups have a lot going on as well — if you are a union member, check with your rep.
  
  
• Get involved and volunteer with a local candidate.  Or donate (we have a handy list of candidates on our BlueAmerica page).

One advantage we have as Democrats is that we have a better network of progressive/activist blogs that can spread the word about our candidates. We can generate buzz by forwarding articles like this one to people who do not read blogs on a regular basis.

So, please take a moment right now commit to doing one or more of the things on this action list. Then copy and send this article to 5 of your friends and ask them to do the same thing.

We all want Democrats to take the majority in November, but it won't happen unless YOU take action, NOW.

by Mark Adams

As KOS said, this is unbelievable.

Bill O'Reilly, Fred Phelps, and Geraldo Rivera are now joined by Robert Novak.

Boy, you can really tell a lot about a person by knowing who his enemies are...

What was that all about?

Lowkell puts it in perspective:

As another famous Jew, Sigmund Freud, might have said in this situation, George Allen appears to have some deep-seated "issues" regarding his Jewish heritage - and regarding many other things as well.

In general, Allen has a well-documented nasty/violent streak, as exemplified in the past by his abusive behavior towards his sister (see her book, Fifth Quarter, for how George dragged her upstairs by the hair and held her, terrified, over Niagara Falls).

Aside from Allen's abusive treatment of his sister (as reported by her in her book), there are numerous additional, documented examples of Allen's nasty, snarling side.

For instance, there's Allen's infamous "enjoy knocking their soft teeth down their whining throats" line about "liberals."

There's even an incident in which Allen taunted a man - a Republican, no less - for being a "sissy" because he was wearing a bicycle helmet!

Finally, in the most infamous incident of all, Allen just a few weeks ago attacked a young, South Asian American man from Fairfax, Virginia - S.R. Sidarth - in front of an all-white, all-Republican crowd.

Like the female reporter at yesterday's debate, Sidarth reported being "shocked" at Allen's behavior, and at being called "macaca," a common racial slur in the French Tunisia of Allen's mother.

So here's the takeaway message out of all this: George Allen has a nasty, sadistic, vicious, violent streak that flares up all-too-frequently.

And this guy wants the Republican nomination for President in 2008.

Beware.

by Mark Adams

One completely ignored distinction in the vitriolic rhetoric accusing President Bush of using Monica's Closet for his thumb-screw collection, and saying the Democrats (along with some select GOP Senators and distinguished military leaders), are giving aid and comfort to terrorists, is that there is a distinct difference between the uses of the information we are trying to get.

'Alternative' CIA tactics complicate Padilla case: "Evidence against the American terror suspect was obtained through torture, his lawyers say.

(Via Christian Science Monitor | USA.)

You want to defend these practices, knock yourself out.  No seriously, take a hammer and beat yourself around the cranium until some sense penetrates your thick skull.

In fact, go play your little "24" -- find the nuke by breaking bones -- game.  Be my guest.  But don't expect to make it legal, or to use something so patently illegal, so anathema to civilized behavior, as evidence in a legal proceeding.

Somehow I'm not surprised that Senator Tubes is on the wrong side of this debate. Even though Stevens, along with Warner, Graham, Hagel and McCain are the only vets the GOP can claim as members of the World's Most Deliberative Body -- it's obvious that as one of nine Senators to vote against the anti-torture bill last year, he's brain damaged.

A lot of folks are surprised, even upset that we would have this debate.  It is kind of surreal that we've come to this point.  However, this nation is one of the few places where this kind of debate has a fair shot at a decent hearing.

Mind you, the Administration never wanted this debate.  They'd rather just stack Congress with the same sycophants they put in charge of rebuilding Iraq.  Failure and incompetence they can live with.  Dissent and disloyalty is something they are incapable of anticipating any more than the foreseeably "unexpected" levee break or looting or resistance to occupation, or corrupt cronyism.

Look, I'm all for saving Albuquerque from catastrophe by any means necessary.  But once a captive would-be terrorist is charged with a crime, they become a criminal defendant, and should expect the same treatment extended to the most vile, low-life child rapist.  That includes the right to confront and rebut the evidence and to have their incarceration subject to habeas corpus review.

It's a glaringly sad fact that some people accused of being terrorists are completely innocent of anything beyond breathing while looking like a muslim.  The President made a high profile showing that we have some very, very bad people in custody when he shipped 14 of the worst of the worst from their CIA "black sites" to Gitmo. 

The question remains, just how many of the 14,000 other detainees held in camp "who-knows-where" shouldn't be there and certainly shouldn't be tortured any more than Maher Arar, a Canadian who was shipped off to Syria by the U.S., tortured as a terrorist suspect for 10 months, and never did a damn thing wrong.

Did I mention that we sent this poor innocent guy to "Axis of Evil" nation, Syria?

This isn't rocket science.  It's civics 101.  A class obviously phoned in by President Bush, and only the despicable Professor Yoo would have given him a passing grade.  To clarify, even the real Nazis knew they could get better intel from psychological rather than physical interrogation methods.  And they were never stupid enough to try and use information obtained through torture to convict someone of a crime, let alone think they could rely on the info as reliable enough to use for their tactical or strategic plans.

USA Today Gallup poll: Bush ratings rebound, approval hits highest level in a year (44%).

Rasmussen Reports: 41% of American adults approve of the way that President Bush is performing his job and 58% disapprove. That's about where the numbers were before the President’s 9/11 speech. In other words, his 9/11 bounce came back to earth. Furthermore, he's been at, or around, 41% in the Rasmussen poll since March.

Polling disparities are not new and neither are disparities in the narrative.

Let's look at the polling disparities first:

The Gallup poll was done between 9/15-9/17. The results of the Rasmussen poll for those same three days (released 9/18) showed Bush trending downward and polling at 41%. The Gallup poll is done twice a month; the Rasmussen poll is released every day, showing the combined results from the previous three days ("3-day rolling average"). Gallup shows Bush trending upwards (from 31% in May to 44% today) whereas Rasmussen has his support flat during the same time.

As far as disparities in the narrative, well, that is the perogative of the news outlet. Gallup's numbers might be the leading indicator of a Bush resurgence, but so many other stories indicate otherwise. It's probably best to discount all of these, on both sides. After all, Bush is not on the ballot this November; Congress is. And if you look at how they are "narrating" their relationship to Bush so far, "radioactive" is a word that comes to mind.

Speaking of Congressional elections: the Gallup poll includes results from the generic "Democrat or Republican" poll, showing it tied 48-48, erasing a 9-pt. Dem lead from the last poll. But inidividual races are polling in each state and district, with the names of specific candidates. In those polls, the Dems are currently ahead, and If the election were held today there is a good chance that they would regain the House and possibly the Senate as well.

So who and what do you believe? Best not to look into the crystal ball because you wind up eating ground glass.

Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC):

The Geneva Convention is just not some concept; it has saved lives. We adhere to it, and we expect others to do it.

Stop the presses: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called off coalition talks with Hamas because the two sides could not agree on the recognition of Israel.

Really, this is news?

P.S. Prime Minister Haniyeh denies the talks are off.

Here's why:

Many assume that mature viewers, with their $2 trillion a year in spending power, would be welcomed by the networks. Well, they aren't. Advertisers want to lock in viewers' buying habits early in life, not struggle with them to change brands in their last few decades...People over 49 do not buy interesting products. They detract from the hip environment advertisers seek. The shows they watch tend not to become "water cooler" shows. They are not, as one media buyer puts it, "an opportunity audience."

[...]

It's time for people over 49 to "take one for the team." Besides, it's really not such a terrible sacrifice; they have Sudoku now.

OK, that's worth a chuckle, but when the reporter says older viewers fantasize about handsome guys like Alan Ladd and broads like Ann Miller...well, is he thinking these viewers are, like 100 years old?

I've added a link to del.icio.us for every post at E Pluribus Unum.

What is del.icio.us?

del.icio.us is a collection of favorites - yours and everyone else's. Use del.icio.us to:

• Keep links to your favorite articles, blogs, music, restaurant reviews, and more on del.icio.us and access them from any computer on the web.
  
• Share favorites with friends, family, and colleagues.
  
• Discover new things. Everything on del.icio.us is someone's favorite - they've already done the work of finding it. Explore and enjoy.

You do need to open an account to start putting your bookmarks into del.icio.us.

So...anytime you read a post that you want to save and/or share with someone else -- click the del.icio.us link and bookmark it.

P.S. As you might imagine, del.icio.us is similar to digg. If you can't decide which one to use, upload links to both!

The Post tells us that "Consumer Confidence Skyrockets" but the fact is it "zoomed" up -- from "dismal" to "below average:"

The University of Michigan's preliminary index of consumer sentiment increased to 84.4 from 82 in August. The measure has averaged 88.1 since monthly data were first compiled in 1978.

Latest polls show Dems in a strong position to win back the Senate...in November. The good news? They're in the lead now. The bad news? They're in the lead...now. Yeah, I know: it's only a snapshot.

Dpinzow has the details.

Itchy is a deadly hunter, helped in no small part by his natural coloring. It gives him superior camouflage in this environment.

Now if we could just stop him from bringing those headless squirrels into the house through the cat door...

I've not always been in Mary Landrieu's cheering section. I haven't cared for her membership in the bogus "Gang of 14" or her silence while the Feds shafted New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. But she did stand up today and say what needs to be said about the all-encompassing issue of the war in Iraq. Good for her.

by Mark Adams

If you haven't been keeping track of the latest tribulations of investigative reporter Greg Palast, you'll be relieved to hear that he's been released, unharmed.

And he didn't even have to convert -- to Republicanism.

I'm sure that if forced to save his skin, he would have choked out the words, "There is no God but Exxon, and Cheney is it's prophet."  But he would have felt dirty afterwards.

Reporter Palast Slips Clutches of Homeland Security: "One of George Bush's weirder acts in office (and that's saying a lot) was to move FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, whose main job is to save us from floods and earthquakes, into the control of the Department of Homeland Security. Exxon's refineries, once 'pollution source points' scrutinized by government watchdogs, are now 'critical infrastructure' protected by federal hounddogs.

As the front lines in the War on Terror expand from Baghdad to Baton Rouge, we find that America has been made secure only against hard news and uncomfortable facts."

by Mark Adams

All I can say is, it's about time.

Powell joins GOP opposition to Bush's terror bills  

"The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism," said Powell, who served under Bush and is a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "To redefine Common Article 3 would add to those doubts. Furthermore, it would put our own troops at risk."

Powell is the most notable former Bush administration official to date has publically come out against the administration's craven attempts to disregard the rules of civilized nations, international law, the Constitution and the United States Code.

Huzzah!

Powell joins a growing list of outspoken former administration officials openly critical of the Bush/Cheney White House, such as Paul O'Neil and Richard Clarke, not to mention a platoon of Generals and even some conservative pundits who as recently as a year ago would never dreamed of turning their backs on the GOP and publically call them on their actions.

Every one of these people has decided to stake their reputation against their honor, and resisted the administration's policies, vocally, for their own reasons.  Some were against the Iraq war from the beginning, some objected to the way it was prosecuted.  Others are disappointed with the misguided spending and revenue policies, or the overreach of the executive for clamping down on the liberties of ordinary citizens -- while a few draw the line at torture.

Whatever their grounds, there's more than enough reasons to distance themselves from this disasterous leadership.  To do so in a fashion that a little blogger like myself could use their words to give credence to my long-standing opposition to the administration's decisions is what is truly remarkable.

Un. Believable:

President Nazarbayev has confirmed his government will buy "educational" TV spots and print advertisements about the "real Kazakhstan" in a bid to save the country's reputation before [Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan] is released in the US in November.

President Nazarbayev will visit the White House and the Bush family compound in Maine when he flies in for talks that will include the fictional character Borat.

Hasn't Nazarbayev heard? No publicity is bad publicity....for Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) OR for Kazakhstan.

Good golly, Miss Molly!

If you think the last thing our troops need is more body armor, you better watch this ad right now.

This devastating ad features an AK-47 ("the weapon of choice among terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan") piercing the Vietnam era flak jackets many troops wore in Iraq. Then it shows how the newer, more effective body armor fares against that same AK-47. There's no contest.

Lastly, VoteVets.org (an organization of Iraq veterans), calls for the defeat of Virginia Senator George Allen because he voted against supplying our troops with the modern, better body armor shown in this ad.

And Allen wants to run for President someday? No way, baby, no way.

(HT to kos)

One man struggles with the monotony of the daily grind. An 8-minute film by Ben Rubyan (below) and Ryan Scobey

Click image to play (requires Quicktime).

P.S. Ben is my nephew.

Alka-Seltzer imagines a man in conflict with his own stomach when the announcer steps in to mediate:

He gave up hot tamales. Now he's on a new kick: pepperoni pizzas. And I was just getting used to hot tamales!

I remember writing about this commercial in my HS English journal. So it dates back to around 1968 or so. See if you can recognize who does the voice of The Stomach (answer on the flip).

(Click to see larger image)

This is a picture taken of camels in the desert. It is considered one of the best pictures of 2005. Look closely, the camels are the little white lines in the picture. The black you see is just the shadows!

Question: Do you agree with the president that the US is fighting the decisive ideological struggle of the twenty-first century?

Brzezinski: I think it's an absolutely absurd formulation...We're dealing with a bunch of fanatics. We're dealing with some foolish fundamentalist haters of the west. We're dealing with some outraged ethnic and nationalist feelings. But to elevate this into a global ideological collision, and directly somehow reminiscent of the twentieth-century struggle with Nazis and communism, is an absurdity which either reflects profound ignorance, or a totally manipulative desire to use public anxiety for political purposes.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Read it and weep.

Now you can post any of our stuff on Digg.

What is Digg?

Digg is a user driven social content website. Ok, so what the heck does that mean? Well, everything on digg is submitted by the digg user community (that would be you). After you submit content, other digg users read your submission and digg what they like best. If your story rocks and receives enough diggs, it is promoted to the front page for the millions of digg visitors to see.

You must become a registered user at Digg to submit news stories and websites (like ours). Once you've done that, you can submit any story you like, from any website you come across.

In our case, I've made that process super-easy by placing the "Post This To Digg" link at the bottom of every story we put up at E Pluribus Unum.

For example, I posted one of my "Had Enough?" videos to Digg about an hour ago (click the image to go there):

As you'll see, the entries invite comments from anyone. Heh.

Come on -- Digg it! Become a registered user and rock!

by Mark Adams

Via Hotline:

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ): "We passed up an opportunity after September 11th. I think we should have said, we're going to double the size of the Peace Corps, triple the size of Americorps, we're going to set up volunteer organizations all over America to ensure our security. ... The country was united. We should have called them to serve, not just tell them to take a trip or go shopping" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 9/11). 

Got to hand it to two-faced John.  He knows exactly what useless F#$%^s Bush and his gang of theives are.

Political Wire, in reaction to the same speech on the fifth anniversary of what has become a wholly owned GOP day of symbolic empty gestures: 

If the war on terror is really a "struggle for civilization" itself, as President Bush claimed last night, why do we have just 130,000 troops in Iraq?

You would think that if America were really engaged in such an epic battle -- "for all the marbles," as one friend paraphrased it -- we would put up a bigger fight.

Bush:

The safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad.

So much for Anbar Province.

(Click to watch video)

History teaches us that nearly unanimous support of a government cannot be taken away from that government, by its critics.

It can only be squandered by those who use it not to heal a nation's wounds, but to take political advantage.

Terrorists did not come and steal our newly-regained sense of being American first, and political, fiftieth. Nor did the Democrats. Nor did the media. Nor did the people.

The President -- and those around him -- did that.

They promised bi-partisanship, and then showed that to them, "bi-partisanship" meant that their party would rule and the rest would have to follow, or be branded, with ever-escalating hysteria, as morally or intellectually confused; as appeasers; as those who, in the Vice President's words yesterday, "validate the strategy of the terrorists."

They promised protection, and then showed that to them "protection" meant going to war against a despot whose hand they had once shaken... a despot who we now learn from our own Senate Intelligence Committee, hated Al-Qaeda as much as we did.

The polite phrase for how so many of us were duped into supporting a war, on the false premise that it had "something to do" with 9/11, is "lying by implication."

The impolite phrase, is "impeachable offense."

Tarako is a cod roe-flavoured pasta sauce made by a company called Kewpie, hence the doll-faced Mentaiko (sausage-shaped spiced cod roe). The eery jingle goes like this:

Tarako, tarako,

Tappuri tarako (lots of Tarako)

Tarako, tarako, tappuri tarako ga yatte kuru (lots of Tarako are coming)

Yes, indeed, they are coming...

As if this jingle isn't ALREADY burned into your brain, here's an extended 4-minute piece starring the two celebrity spokespersons for Tarako:

(Cross posted at Daily Kos)

"Dick" Cheney:

[W]e've done a hell of a job here at home, in terms of homeland security, in terms of the terrorist surveillance program we've put in place, in terms of the financial tracking program we put in place, and because of our detainee policy, where we, in fact, were able to interrogate captured terrorists ...

Translation: Warrantless wiretapping, indefinite detention of citizens, torture -- no price is too big to pay to ensure the security of the American people.

(Click for a larger image)

David Catrow, Springfield, Ohio - The News-Sun

by Mark Adams

 WaPo: Bin Laden Trail 'Stone Cold'

Today, however, no one person is in charge of the overall hunt for bin Laden with the authority to direct covert CIA operations to collect intelligence and to dispatch JSOC units. Some counterterrorism officials find this absurd. "There's nobody in the United States government whose job it is to find Osama bin Laden!" one frustrated counterterrorism official shouted. "Nobody!"

This is just more fiction, right?  Something akin to the the Truthiness of the Disneyland on the Potomac production of Path to Propaganda.

Josh's faithful reader, DK, thinks this isn't some sick joke, but believes that someone is still asleep at the switch, and should be held accountable.

If Republicans don't pay a steep price politically this November for this kind of malfeasance, I really don't know what it will take to convince voters it's time for a change of course.  

BuzzFlash sketches out the scenario.

Glenn Greenwald has the scoop.

You couldn't make this stuff up.

Fred Phelps:

When two angels from God Almighty appeared one night, in human form at Lot's house in old Sodom, [and] told Lot that he should gather his family and get out of Sodom immediately, because God had determined to destroy Sodom with fire and brimstone, the next morning, they thought it was more of Jon Stewart's and Stephen Colbert's brand of comic mockery, so strong and pervasive was the Satanic spirit of mockery. Listen up America, hear these solemn words and weep for your Sodomite sins...

Stewart and Colbert have some serious-freaking-mojo if old Lot confused an angel of the Lord with those two dudes.

I'm just saying.

(HT to John Amato)

by Mark Adams

Via: Washington Note

JOHN BOLTON CONFIRMATION IS DEAD

Several well-placed sources close to the Bolton nomination process have reported to me that the Bolton confirmation process is now dead. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is "highly unlikely" to reconsider Bolton's confirmation again as things now stand. One...

Of course, since he was a recess appointment that by-passed Congress (a procedure King George has no reservations about using), this marks the end of the Neo-con Mustache's tenure as our embarassing representative to the world.

My one regret is that we could have used a Mike DeWine rubber-stamp vote on this clown as yet another example of Ohio's Senatorial Mis-leadership.

by Mark Adams

Economic Morality seems almost a non sequitur in America.  The reliance on individual self-interest, simple greed, to fuel the capitalistic profit-seeking engine is what makes our free-market system work.  That underlying structure seems quite at odds with a socially responsible corporation that benefits the public at large (let alone the environment) without being forced by government regulation.

Don't jump to the conclusion that I'm in any way advocating a legislative code mandating that an industry act for on behalf of the public.  Regulations that curb excesses, exploitation, prevent environmental abuse, and provide a strong disincentive for fraud are absolutely necessary.  However, the basic laissez faire capitalist model works just fine and has brought prosperity to this nation and the world.

However, like so many businesses that used to thrive in the industrial midwest, the Ford Motor Company is in trouble.

As a result, the entire automotive empire and it's support industries tied into the manufacturing base of America are likewise in jeopardy.  The ripple effect touches not only the auto workers and factory employees supplying parts for the car makers, but also the service industries that rely on the core manufacturing base throughout the area.

It is widely understood that every time Bush mentions Bin Laden's name, Bush's numbers go up. So the Gang of 500 is all a-twitter that Dear Leader's ballsy move, the transfer of several terror suspects from the CIA-secret-prisons-that-don't-really-exist over to Gitmo, will cause a bump in Bush's approval ratings. Some are even predicting that this development will be the beginning of a turn-around that will allow the Republicans to hang on to their majority in both houses of Congress. That remains to be seen. After all, Bush's numbers showed only a temporary rise after the Brits busted up the London terror plot, whereas the Dick Morris' of the pundit-world had predicted a 10-point rise.

Whatever.

Track it for yourself: Bush is at 41% in Rasmussen's daily poll -- where he's been since March. And other polling is indicating that the Dems will take the House and maybe the Senate. So let's look at the numbers in a week and see where we're headed. My hunch is that you don't reverse a year's worth of dissatisfaction with a week's worth of posturing, but I've been wrong before.

P.S. Today -- as if by coincidence! -- Al Jazeera is airing video of Bin Laden meeting with some of the 9/11 hijackers. Could it be that Al Jazeera (who Bush wanted to bomb during the early stages of the Iraq war) is in cahoots with Bush? Or is it more likely that Al Jazeera is in cahoots with al-Qaeda?

Or, even more likely, is it true that what's good for the goose is good for the gander? You know, as far as Bin Laden and al-Qaeda are concerned, Bush has been very, very, very good for business. So maybe the release of the video helps both sides; Bush gets to scare people some more while Bin Laden gets to burnish his reputation.

Bill Clinton just kicked it up a notch.

If you haven't done so already, tell ABC how you feel about the factually and incontrovertibly inaccurate content of their upcoming "special" on 9/11.

UPDATE: From Think Progress:

James Bamford, an author and journalist who has written about security issues, appeared on MSNBC to discuss "The Path to 9/11." Bamford revealed that an FBI agent who worked as a consultant to the film quit halfway through production of the mini-series because he believed the writers and producers were "making things up."

UPDATE II: Open Letter To ABC is a new blog that is consolidating all the info on this fiasco. Check it out.

UPDATE III: Oy. The Families of September 11 have also weighed in. Paging Ann Coulter!!

How long will it be before Bush loyalists declare that all this is proof that the mockumentary has "hit a nerve," that Clinton has "something to hide," and that "liberals are shutting off free speech."

UPDATE III-b: Rose responds, like clockwork, and demonstrates that she sees no difference between a "documentary" and a "dramatization," because, after all, she watched them both on her TV set.

Bush:

Bin Laden and his allies are absolutely convinced they can succeed in forcing America to retreat and causing our economic collapse. They believe our nation is weak and decadent and lacking in patience and resolve, and they're wrong.

They are wrong -- our nation is strong.
It is Bush who showed that he is weak and lacking in patience and resolve when he gave up fighting bin Laden. It is Bush that has shown that he is decadent through his continued addiction to foreign oil.

Chris Bowers has the details.

In short, Bowers is projecting a 95% chance that the Dems will take the House with a net pickup of 15-23 seats (15 being the magic number for majority control).

In a related story, Larry Sabato is projecting a net pickup of 12-15 seats.

[Note: Sabato is also projecting a net pickup of 3-6 seats for the Dems in the Senate (5 being the magic number for majority control).]

Lastly, the Intrade prediction market for "House GOP control" contracts is at 38, i.e., traders believe there is only a 38% chance that the Republicans will hold onto their majority. This is down 10 points in the past two weeks.

Bruce Schneier keeps a scorecard from the war on terror, compiling DoJ stats on actual prosecutions.

From these stats, one might conclude that "there is no there there," i.e., the threat of terrorism may be inaccurate and/or exaggerated.

(HT to Xeni)

I am a student of advertising, including TV commercials. From time to time I'll put up a TV ad I think is pretty good, even better than the show it interrupts. Here's one from Ariston, who makes washing machines.

(HT to Mostafa)

...crack.

(HT to John Amato)

Karen Breitweiser responds to Ann Coulter.

(HT to John Amato)

Top Ten most frequently-read posts:

1. Commerce Committee to Vote on Net Neutrality Wednesday (June, 2006)
   
2. Top Ten Chuck Norris Facts (December, 2005)
   
3. Kana: Not the first time it happened (July, 2006)
   
4. Dad Gave Me The Keys (Mark Adams, April, 2006))
   
5. Intelligent Design: "The sky is blue because God wants it that way." (November, 2005)
   
6. What does leadership mean? (March, 2003)
   
7. Mastercard Commercial From Hell (April, 2002)
   
8. After the Israel-Lebanon war is over... (August, 2006)
   
9. What Congressional Democrats Must Do To Win In November (August, 2006)
   
10. Win Or Lose, "Netroots" gets bashed (Mark Adams, August, 2006)

Both the Democrats and the Republicans have simple tools to streamline the process of writing a letter to the editor of just about any newspaper(s) you can think of. You enter a zipcode and click some checkboxes to indicate who should receive your letter. Then you write the letter and submit it. Pretty easy.

Some might call this "Astroturfing" but if it gets your voice heard here and there on occasion, that's not bad.

The Democrats' tool is here. The Republicans' tool is here. As far as I can tell, either one is pretty generic. I prefer the Democrats' tool because it consolidates the national papers onto the same checklist as the local ones.

On the other hand, the Republicans give you some good guidelines on how to write effectively:

• Include Your Contact Information. Most newspapers will only print a letter to the editor after calling the author to verify his or her identity and address. Newspapers will not give out that information, and will usually only print your name and city should your letter be published.
  
• Be Clear and Concise: Keep your letters brief, concise, and to the point. Newspaper editors often edit for length, so try to keep your letter to less than 250 words.
  
• State Your Point Early: Be sure to state your main point in the subject line and in the first sentence of the letter. [Note: I wish more bloggers followed this suggestion!]
  
• Keep to One Topic: Keep your letters focused on one subject.

by Mark Adams

Just to prove there are indeed still Neanderthals roaming the streets of Toledo, The Blade ran this letter to the editor:

Once the "honeymoon" period is over and the curiosity seekers have tuned out, CBS Evening News ratings will return to dismal pre-Couric levels, if not lower. Katie better show a little leg and shake her booty to distract the viewers from her journalistic shortcomings. If not, when the reviews aren't positive and the audience isn't there, she might just have a good cry.

I didn't watch it, but her critics couldn't wait to pile on...

She moved out from behind the anchor desk often and gave us flashes of leg and thigh in sit-down interviews, including one with New York Times columnist Tom Friedman that featured this memorable exchange:

Katie: Are we safer today than before September 11, 2001?

Tom: In same ways yes, in some ways no.

But the really pathetic part of the show came at the end when perky Katie revealed breathlessly that, after three months of preparation, she didn't have a way to close her new nightly newscasts.

Instead, she played back some of TV news more memorable closings (Edward R. Murrow saying "Good night and good luck," Huntley and Brinkely - "Good night Chet, Good Night David" - and Walter Cronkite saying "And that's the way it is." We also got the less memorable (Dan Rather saying "Courage") and even Ted Baxter from the Mary Tyler Moore show and Ron Burgandy (Will Ferrell).

So she's asking viewers to submit suggesting closings for her newscast.

I've got one suggestion. How about: "Good night and this is my final broadcast. I'm doing journalism a favor by leaving the business."

If you don't like her, don't watch her.  I loath Sean Hannity and Limbaugh.  I turn them off, so I end up missing a lot of blogworthy fodder as examples of wingnut claptrap.  Don't expose your chauvinistic jealousy for the world to mock.

"My number one rule is to keep that camera rolling. Even if it's shaky or slightly out of focus, I don't give a rip. Even if a big old alligator is chewing me up I want to go down and go, 'Crikey!' just before I die. That would be the ultimate for me."

----Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter, on how he wanted to die.

News reports say that tapes of his demise are currently being held by Queensland police - but Irwin's family are determined to respect his last wishes and allow the harrowing footage to be broadcast.

ABC's docudrama, 'The Path to 9/11,' is a mix of fact, fantasy and deliberate distortion adding up to blatant pro-Bush propaganda. Sheldon Rampton shares details.

UPDATE: Richard Clarke Blasts Key Scene In ABC's 9/11 Docudrama:

ThinkProgress has obtained a rebuttal of key scenes from Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism czar for Bush I, Clinton and Bush II, and now counterterrorism adviser to ABC:

1. Contrary to the movie, no US military or CIA personnel were on the ground in Afghanistan and saw bin Laden.

2. Contrary to the movie, the head of the Northern Alliance, Masood, was no where near the alleged bin Laden camp and did not see UBL.

3. Contrary to the movie, the CIA Director actually said that he could not recommend a strike on the camp because the information was single sourced and we would have no way to know if bin Laden was in the target area by the time a cruise missile hit it.

In short, this scene -- which makes the incendiary claim that the Clinton administration passed on a surefire chance to kill or catch bin Laden -- never happened. It was completely made up by [the show's writer].

The actual history is quite different. According to the 9/11 Commission Report (pg. 199), then-CIA Director George Tenet had the authority from President Clinton to kill Bin Laden. Roger Cressy, former NSC director for counterterrorism, has written, "Mr. Clinton approved every request made of him by the CIA and the U.S. military involving using force against bin Laden and al-Qaeda."

Tell ABC to tell the truth about 9/11.

by Mark Adams (and Associates)

The controversy surrounding Ohio's new voter suppression election law known as HB 3 (House Bill 3) has been well documented.  The ID requirement is the most obvious hassle (bring an ID to vote, or a utility bill with your name and address if your ID was issued before you moved.)  Also, if you're a naturalized citizen, even if you've been here for 50 years and always voted, they want to see your naturalization papers.  (I'm having flashbacks to an old WWII movie with the Gestapo demanding "Ihre Papieren, Bitte!")

One thing I haven't seen examined regarding this legislation (which for all appearances seems to be nothing less than an attempt by Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell to create a perpetual Republican majority in the State) is the fact that Kenny himself has provided the Ohio Attorney General a new tool to investigate and prosecute the Secretary of State and his co-conspirators for election fraud stemming out of the 2004 Ohio election fiasco.

The items that won't affect voters personally, but are nonetheless a stab at the heart of the integrity of Ohio elections were succinctly summarized by Ohio 2nd Blog:

HB3's most publicized provision will require positive identification before casting a vote. But it also opens voter registration activists to partisan prosecution, exempts electronic voting machines from public scrutiny, quintuples the cost of citizen-requested statewide recounts and makes it illegal to challenge a presidential vote count or, indeed, any federal election result in Ohio.

The following analysis was forwarded to me by another attorney who (for now) wishes to remain anonymous.

Honestly -- did he think we wouldn't remember?

Frank Rich:

Mr. Rumsfeld didn't go to Baghdad in 1983 to tour the museum. Then a private citizen, he had been dispatched as an emissary by the Reagan administration, which sought to align itself with Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war. Saddam was already a notorious thug. Well before Mr. Rumsfeld's trip, Amnesty International had reported the dictator's use of torture -- "beating, burning, sexual abuse and the infliction of electric shocks" -- on hundreds of political prisoners. Dozens more had been summarily executed or had "disappeared." American intelligence agencies knew that Saddam had used chemical weapons to gas both Iraqi Kurds and Iranians.

According to declassified State Department memos detailing Mr. Rumsfeld's Baghdad meetings, the American visitor never raised the subject of these crimes with his host. (Mr. Rumsfeld has since claimed otherwise, but that is not supported by the documents, which can be viewed online at George Washington University's National Security Archive.) Within a year of his visit, the American mission was accomplished: Iraq and the United States resumed diplomatic relations for the first time since Iraq had severed them in 1967 in protest of American backing of Israel in the Six-Day War.

Five years ago, the world was with us. Not anymore.

by Mark Adams

Field Marshall von Rumsfeld's insulting screed was a call to arms for the Liberal Blogtopians, editorial writers and Keith Olbermann. He likened those who disagreed with him as facilitators of death and destruction -- appeasers in the same manner as those who watched silently as Adolph Hitler built a military machine destined to destroy most of Europe

Despicable doesn't begin to cover it.

The right to dissent is the essence of the very freedoms this administration claims we are hated for possessing. Our beloved Defense Secretary believes that disagreement is not a democratic excersize in free speech, but appeasment of terrorists as bad as bowing down to a dictator.

And for the record, Rummy was appearing with his buddy Saddam Hussein after the US government confirmed he was gassing Kurds daily with chemical weapons he purchased from us -- the crime for which he is now on trial.

This photo, and the video should become as ubiquitous as flowers in spring.

UPDATED VIDEO LINK

UPDATE 2: READ FRANK RICH at Mother Jones!

by Mark Adams, or someone who writes a lot like me.

Hey, did you hear the good news?  We've made so much progress in Iraq that they are moving into a brand-spankin' new Headquarters for their military so they can start taking control of their destiny! 

This stupendous progress the Iraqi Defense Forces have made by "standing up" their new headquarters is testimony to Jenkins' Law: This law comes from the social and political commentator Simon Jenkins, and states that "any outfit moving into a splendid new headquarters is heading for the rocks" (The Times, 6th February 2004). The law is richly supported by caselore, not least the fact that London's crime rate "soared" the moment Scotland Yard relocated to a glass tower full of computer screens.

Look, the only "Mission" we "Accomplished" in Iraq is to forever change the dynamics of the Middle East. That's a done deal. What that dynamic looks like is now the struggle.

New goals? 1.) Leave the region no worse than we found it at the very least -- but leave we must, eventually. 3.) Avoid Armaggedon.

Item #2 I leave up to the Underpants Gnomes, who have a much better track record than the current crop of magicians in charge of DOD.

More and more folks are coming to the stated position of John Edwards, Kerry and Murtha, (phased redeployment and withdrawal) some very reluctantly, some of whom will never do so precisely because it came from Edwards, Kerry and Murtha.

We're dealing with bureaucrats over there. Most of those bureaucrats are well armed, and many use those weapons at the slightest provocation, but the entire political structure remains, in essence, bureaucracy. Sadr, Sistani, Maliki, are at the top of their own heirarchy, each with dififering degrees of rigidity or loosness in structure. Yet each of them, as well as every militia and party or political faction over there responds as all such organized groups.

Understanding this premise, the Laws of Life apply, especially Parkinson's Law:

Work expands to fill the time available.

(Cross posted to Daily Kos)

Flash back to Malcolm X in May, 1963:

As between the racists and the integrationists, I highly prefer the racists. I'd rather walk among rattlesnakes, whose constant rattle warns me where they are, than among those Northern snakes who grin and make you forget you're still in a snake pit.

Flash forward to 2006, when so much has been written recently about high-profile Republicans playing the race card. Conrad Burns, George Allen, the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, Joe Lieberman and Pat Buchanan have all done it, some personally, others through their campaign apparatus.

Joe Klein believes it is the handiwork of Karl Rove:

Rove has shown a positive genius for organizing campaigns around poisonous trivia. He will question the patriotism of Democrats (and, once again, be aided by those on the noisome left who believe that the U.S. is a malignant, imperialistic force in the world). He will deploy an ugly, stone-throwing distortion of Christian "values," especially against those Democrats who choose not to discriminate against homosexuals. And if things get really desperate, he will play the race card, as Republicans have ever since they sided against the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

For a political operation that loves to say "up" is "down" and "war" is "peace," this makes perfect sense and actually plays to their advantage. You can hear it now: the Republican party is the party that believes in strong moral values like, you know, honesty.