Let's Go to the Beach!

Even the Bush administration now admits that al-Qaeda is as strong as it ever was and that six years of foreign adventurism and trillions of dollars spent has done nothing to decrease their capacity for Islamic fundamentalist jihad. Iraq, poses a much greater danger to the West than before, now that the secular, strongman rule of Saddam is overthrown and the strongly religious and anti-Western Shiite faction control the government. Likewise, countries like Turkey, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon have turned more Islamist and militantly anti-American since the American armed aggression of the last six years began.

Besides being the most politically corrupt administration in American history, bringing the American economy to ruin, spearheading the gutting of American Constitutional rights, destroying the affluence of the middle class and gutting the American military establishment, Bush has, in his spare time, radicalized the Middle East and quadrupled oil prices.

Joystick Justice, Oh Baby!

The Iraqi people love the American soldiers and see them as liberators. Very soon the Iraq War will switch over to the peaceful occupation mode that Presidential hopeful, John McCain, is certain will lead to a happy, hundred year adventure in the oily empire.

In the meantime though, General Petraeus wants Preditor drones, all he can get and the Hellfire missiles to arm them with, all he can get. The Iraqi people don't love us quite enough, just yet.

More RAM

The Apple G5 that I bought used recently, is the most low end G5. It only has 4 memory slots. Memory DIMMs must be inserted in matched pairs. When I got it, it had two 128 megs and two 512 meg DIMMs for a total of 1.25 GIG of RAM. Yesterday I got a pair of 1 GIGs at FRYs on sale and switched them for the two 128s, for a total of 3.0 GIGs of RAM.

I wasn't sure it would make a big difference. It does. It is a lot faster. It wasn't a big expense and it yielded a big improvement. If I got two more 1 GIGs I could bring the RAM up to a total of 4 GIGs. Maybe later. I'm good for now.

Body Counts

Over the last five years and up until a couple of months ago, the wholesale killing in Iraq has mostly been a result of Iraqi on Iraqi violence. That has changed. More and more, large numbers of civilians in Iraq are being killed by American forces working to extend the geographic control of its puppet Iraqi government and protecting the safety of the American "Green Zone", from insurgent attack.

One of the worst things an occupying force can do when trying to pacify a subject population, is to routinely and indiscriminately kill large numbers of innocent civilians. The next worse thing they can do, is brag about it to the International press. Everyday now we get a body count for Baghdad, Basra, Najaf and Mosul and a blow by blow account of how they died. The US military spokesman of the day, always prefaces his side of the story by saying, "We killed them but it's their fault".

They got to get the flaks to write up some new stories. They've got to quit killing the women, children and old people, because it's hard to pass them off as "criminal gang members".

Winning in Iraq

The fundo fascists accuse everyone else in America of not wanting to "win" the war in Iraq. Winning the war would seem to include, according to them, the following outcomes.

1) A stable, representative government, responsive and respectful of the rights of all of its citizens.
2)Able to exercise control over it's entire territory and defend against all internal and external threats to it's sovereignty.
3)Friendly to Western powers, accepting of Israels right to existence and an ally in the fight against Islamist terrorism and jihad.

Not even one of these goals is achievable. Not by us. Not by them. Ever. The pathway that the fundos point to as the way to victory is to invade Iran. We are already deeply enmeshed in the countries of not only Iraq and Afghanistan but Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE. We have military alliances with Turkey, Egypt and Israel. We don't need more involvement in the Middle East, we need less. It is clear we need to reassess our goals in the Middle East to be more in line with our capabilities.

It is possible that the fundo fascists, neocon bullet heads and oil company profiteers have special interests to pursue in the Middle East, independent of the greater good of the American people. They should be free to pursue private initiatives and programs as they are able and can afford, to further their causes. George Bush has always voiced great interest in becoming a freedom fighter in Afghanistan. He will soon be free to pursue this goal and I, for one, wish him Godspeed in his new crusade.

Sexism

An old, grotesque politician, who has long outlived his time. A man who has learned to pander without shame or sincerity, to any group that presents itself. He will kiss babies in the morning, throw down a shot and beer with union workers in the afternoon and dine at a fundraiser with corporate fat cats at night, all with equal and phony aplomb. A lot of times, the candidate of the party I support, is a guy just like this. A lot of times, all the candidates for offices I must vote for, are guys like this. I vote for my party's candidate without a second thought. He may be an old crook, criminal or closeted pervert but he's my old crook, criminal and closeted pervert.

Now, just because the old, bloated, washed up, lying politician in question, is a woman, people say they can't bring themselves to vote for her. Bullshit. Hilliary Clinton, no matter how loathsome, you find her, is still the preferred choice, for President, over John McCain. McCain will continue the War in the Middle East. McCain thinks the economy is in good shape and sees nothing wrong with Wall Street's financial machinations. His best friend, for twenty years, was Charles Keating. He hangs around with corporate lobbyists. He travels on their planes, eats their food, drinks their booze and sleeps in their beds, with the bimbo whores they give him. Relatively speaking, Hillary is the better man, if she is the choice you are offered. Prissy protestations that Hillary's behavior is unladylike and unacceptable are sexism, pure and simple.

If my Party chooses Hillary as the Presidential candidate in the elections come November, I will vote for her without batting an eye.

Money for War

Bush and Cheney want another extra 100 billion dollars to fund the wars in the Middle East, which will be added onto the deficit. The Congress must vote to give him the money.

We have no business in the Middle East. Bush and Cheney have lied about the reasons, progress and desired outcomes of this war from day one. They continue to lie today. A million Iraqis are dead. Millions more are maimed and millions more displaced. Schools are closed, hospitals are without the facilities and supplies they need to function effectively. Civil law is enforced by death squad. The very old and very young die from lack of public sanitation and potable water. Iraqi youth are trafficked into slavery in foreign lands even as the Americans traffic in foreign slave labor to build their huge permanent bases. Bush and his military minions plan to extend the wars in the Middle East indefinitely, they have plans to expand the scope of the War to Iran, putting us at war with the entire Shiite community of nations. Al-Qaeda, whether a threat to us or not, is entirely Sunni. This war is entirely without rhyme or reason, unless you accept the fact that it is about blood for oil.

The troops and their equipment should be pulled out now. Not another dollar should be authorized for this war. This war was misbegotten. It has had no positive results. It will not get better. We cannot undo the damage we have done.

Some think that Bush and his neocon cabal should be tried for treason. That is not important right now. Now, the important thing is to end this war.

Not another dollar should be authorized for this war.

al-Qaeda in Iraq is Active Again

The term al-Qaeda in Iraq is popping up again. John McCain is using it, a lot. Military spokesman warned yesterday that al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorist groups have "infiltrated" Baghdad and to expect a rash of deadly suicide bomber attacks in the city.

What is al-Qaeda in Iraq? How are they connected with Osama bin Laden? Who are their spokespeople and what do they say? How many of them are there? Where are they based? Are they affiliated with specific religious factions? Do they have popular or political support within Iraq? No information seems to be available about them, which seems strange, since they are so great a threat.

Much information is available about the many armed factions at odds in Iraq today. We can learn all about the Sadrists, Badrists, Fadhila, Sunni awakening, Peshmerga and any number of more obscure groups on the inter net, print or broadcast media. We can learn about their founding, history, leaders, alliances, sources of support, goals, violent insurgent activities, antagonists, demographic make-up, all kinds of valuable information as we seek to inform ourselves, relative to what the Bush administration is doing in the Middle East. It is unusual that an organization as active, deadly and important as al-Qaeda in Iraq, would remain so little known. This is especially mystifying since the two most active and universally respected American war correspondents, Bill Roggio and Michael Yon, have devoted the last couple of years almost exclusively to covering the U S Army's fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Could someone please point me in the direction of some sources of detailed knowledge about al-Qaeda in Iraq?

Thank you so much.

Androids dream of really young blonde girls. Just like everyone else.

I live in SoCal. Pretty amazing place. There are homeless people here who get no support from anywhere, they don't even beg. They live off what they can forage, sleep in alleys and culverts. People pretend they just aren't there. There are African immigrant communities where female genital mutilation is commonly practiced. African, Asian and South Asian cultural groups here arrange marriages. For girls, this often takes place at or before the onset of puberty. Mothers bring wedding pictures to work and pass them around, no one says a thing. On a nice day, you can see women in cut off jeans so low rise, if you get close and look down, you can see the clitoral hood, standing at the checkout line in K-Mart, right next to a lady swathed head to toe in heavy black velvet robes, go figure. There are slaves here. Some do agricultural work. Some work in sweat shops. Some are whores, locked away from the light of day for years at a time and not even sure what country they are in. There are neighborhoods here where rich young girls can stumble down the street at two in the morning, totally messed up, in a ton of real jewelry, and be perfectly safe. There are places the police never go, even at noon. Some people call this a nanny state, I don't really see it, myself. I mean, it does have functional plumbing but other than that, it's pretty much Calcutta. If you're going down for the third time, their's no Mother Teresa here, not for a long time. There's still a big neon downtown, above the Nickle, that flashes on and off, Jesus Saves and he may but not here, not lately.

In Eldorado, Texas, there is a community of fundamentalist Mormons. I don't doubt their culture is pretty aberrant. I don't doubt there is child fucking going on there. Wherever fundamentalist Christians congregate, there always is. On the other hand, they are quiet, clean, self contained, drug free, don't commit crimes, and keep up the landscaping. What's not to like. They are just living their lives and not bothering anybody else. Another thing to keep in mind here, is nobody is complaining about the situation. Nobody is making first hand accusations of abuse. Not the children. Not the parents.

The local police raided the place and removed all the children on the basis of a single bogus, anonymous phone tip, alleging sexual abuse, that was easily discredited. They have no witnesses, no evidence and they are never going to, just animosity toward the community. This is going to come to a bad end. It's not even inconceivable it could be a repeat of Ruby Ridge or Waco. I hope not. In the meantime, these 400 children are going to experience the wonders of the Texas foster care system for an indefinite and probably extended period of time. Whichever ones of them have not already been raped by old, tobacco chewing, syphilitics, that's about to be remediated. It's not clear they wouldn't be better off at home, in their own beds, no matter who else might be in there with them.

The main charge here seems to be that a group of evil men are keeping large numbers of women as sex slaves and "marrying" girls as young as 13. These men don't seem to be around at this time. The women of the community are and they seem pretty fierce. By all accounts, they out number the men by at least five or six to one. Once again, I have no doubt that the sexual culture of these fundamentalist Christians is truly nauseating. It is ever so with fundamentalist Christians. The fact is though, if these women wanted to leave, they could. If they wanted to take their daughters with them, they could. As far as I know, none of them have.

Why is there no outrage about the boy children of this community? Most of whom are thrown out of the community, penniless into the street, by the time they are fifteen. Why aren't the social workers busy documenting their suffering. They have been cluttering up the street corners of downtown Eldorado for years.

Popelope- An American Roadside Attraction

Maybe I've got this all wrong. Why don't you read this and let me know. The Pope says he is deeply ashamed about the pedophilia of American Catholic priests. Shame indicates that he is embarrassed that it was discovered, not that he feels any personal responsibility for it, much less guilt.

The Pope maintains that it is the moral laxity of American society that led the priests astray, making it our fault. The solution to the problem, therefore, is to eliminate America's secular society. We must make not only abortion but birth control, divorce, unwed cohabitation, indeed all non-standard sexual relationships illegal. We must outlaw anything he considers pornography. We must not tolerate provocative dress or behavior within society. In other words, the standards of the church must become the standards of society, in order to protect ourselves from ourselves. He also states that religion is not a personal, private matter. People must participate in religion and demonstrate their faith publicly, so that others may know, when interacting with them, that they are not deviant.

This is my problem with the Catholic church. They espouse Catholicism as the only acceptable religion. Their idea of ecumenicism is that all other faiths and sects reconcile and become part of the Catholic church. They believe that the Catholic church should be the state sanctioned organ of religion in every society. They don't say it very loud or even in public, very often but the bottom line is, they do not believe in the separation of church and state.

These are not the opinions of any of the Catholic people that are my neighbors, that I work with, or that I grew up with. I do not fear a Catholic conspiracy to subvert the separation of church and state or the freedom of religion that are treasured foundations of this great nation. These are not the opinions of the Catholics of Hispanic origin who have swelled the ranks of the church in recent decades. I do not even believe they are the beliefs of many of the leaders of the Catholic clergy in this country. They are the beliefs that the Pope seeks to inculcate into the American Roman Catholic congregation.

These are the stated beliefs and goals of the twisted old Nazi, who runs the whole show, from his hideous nest of corruption in Rome. Nobody within the hierarchy of the church will stand up and tell him no. This is what worries me.

Food Shortage.

What kind of food shortage is the World experiencing? I s there just not enough food for everybody or is it something else? You got me. I don't have a clue.

One thing I know. Large numbers of the World's population live in areas where food has to be transported long distances to get to them. Because of energy costs to grow, harvest and transport the food, middle men and even commodity market manipulation, food costs to the consumer have quadrupled in the last couple of years. Given the state of the World economy, they could and probably will increase at least as much in the next few years.

Now, take into consideration that many families in Africa and Asia have incomes of no more than a dollar a day. Large numbers of Latin American families have not much more. Even if food could be gotten to them, and offered at rock bottom World market prices, they could not afford it. Their governments don't have the money to give them food, The United Nations doesn't, charities don't. They are all struggling with the same problem the people are. Costs of food have gone up, the population to be fed has gone up. The amount of money available to feed them has not gone up. Inflation, increased production and transportation costs and market manipulation, vastly decrease the amount of food governmental, social service and charitable agencies can provide. Even when food is provided in these situations, local militias steal most of it.

The US is tapped out. We are deeply in debt. We are warring in the Middle East to the tune of millions. While starvation is not imminent in this country, yet, times are not good. We are not going to be filling the gap needed to feed the World's poor. The UN is on a fixed income, they are not up to it. Religious organizations talk a good game but spend most of the money they collect in charitable donations on themselves.

The Governments of India and the Philippines released statements just this week stating unequivocally that they have enough food to get through the year, a sure sign that the opposite is true. The Philippines even denied that there have been food riots, in the face of filmed major media coverage of just such riots.

It's gonna be a long hot Summer.

$4 a Gallon

I paid $4.02 for premium gas at a Chevron station on Beach Blvd, yesterday evening. Still, everyone is driving around in big SUVs and dually pick-ups. These guys are paying a thousand a month, or more, on gas, just to drive around town.

It's unbelievable. You gotta wonder what, exactly, will it take to make some of these people adopt even the most basic steps to conserve fuel. You gotta wonder what kind of pain the people that are stuck with forty and fifty mile commutes are going through.

Transport costs on everything will be increasing drastically, expect consumer price inflation to keep ratcheting up.

Dear Leader

Bush packed 9,000 people onto the White House lawn this morning to participate in a gala fete for the Pope. The Marine Band played. There were international satellite cable hookups.

He thinks that if the World sees the Pope is friendly with him,they won't think he is a power grabbing, war mongering, torturing, mass murderer. When the Pope travels, he smiles and lets the most oppressive dictators and blood thirstiest ethnic cleansers toady up to him. It's what Pope's do.

Become a Vegetarian---Next Summer

Due to the high cost of feed, large numbers of meat animals are being slaughtered. This is causing a glut in the market. While prices are not coming down, they are stable relative to recent inflationary trends. Look for meat prices to be up at least 50% from current levels by Summer's end.

Enjoy a barbecue now, while you can! We'll all be having cornbread and beans for Thanksgiving.

Chiquita Brand

Bush said this morning that a free trade agreement with Columbia would be good for the American people. He said the Congress needs to ratify this agreement as soon as possible. This is code talk. I know what he means. Everybody knows what it means.

Cheap cocaine and lots of it! Before this gets ratified, I want numbers. How cheap? How pure? How much? How long? This would be great for the American people. Just what we need to cheer us up during hard times.

I'm tired of empty promises from this asshole. I want cold, hard facts, up front, before this goes through.

Give Queenie!

This Has Gotta Stop Somewhere

Most of the American people don't vote regularly. They don't go to church regularly. We don't have a draft anymore, so most American boys don't go off to the military. Most Americans don't get a college diploma. The Go Go post war days are over. Most Americans don't migrate across the country searching for their dreams. They make their life in the same city or town where they were born and raised.

Maybe, when they think about it, most Americans feel patriotic or religious or ambitious but they don't think about those things all that much. Mostly they think about getting the things their families need, having a nice life and a secure future. They socialize with their friends. They play games. They pursue individual interests. They aren't bitter, xenophobic, hyper religious, gun nuts. They don't fear illegal aliens. They don't think the country is in danger from radical Islamists. They don't need America to be a super power or a shining city on a hill. They would rather have a nice fishing hole, with water the kids could swim in, than a condo on Maui.

Leaders feel they must "address" the people of America and tell them what is expected of them. That's total bullshit. The leaders are not "the government". They are not the "church". They do not make and enforce the "law". The people are the government. They are the church. They are the law. It doesn't matter if they vote. It doesn't matter if they go to church. The people define the institutions and traditions of America according to the way they live and work and interact with each other.

We have reached a point, in this country, where the top of the pyramid is out of step and out of touch with the bottom. The government refuses basic services, because they have other priorities and then lies about the reasons why. Business and industry sells the people an American dream they can't afford and don't really need or even want. Religious leaders tell the people how to be good, when there is nothing really wrong with them in the first place. Anybody that speaks up too loudly gets cut off from the institutions that they are a part of and the rest of us go along with it. This is a really bad thing. It's got to stop.

The President and politicians need to stop asking for blind support and listen to the voice of the people. The Pope, when he visits next week, needs to stop telling his flock what God is telling him and start listening to what God is telling the flock. Business needs to work at supplying the people with the things they need and not the things that provide the biggest profit. They need to understand that people work to live, not live to work. We all need to understand that a healthy environment and renewable resources are a necessity of life and not something we can put off until we can "afford" them.

Most of the people in America think that the country is on the wrong track. If the majority think that, then by definition, it is true. Our leaders have answers to all our problems but they are the wrong answers. We can get better answers from any bum on the street, from any little old lady at the senior center. We can get better and more honest answers from ourselves. Let's listen to ourselves.

What A Very Special Time for Me, I Remember What A Night

Several countries are having food riots. Skyrocketing grain prices are threatening to cause starvation in many areas of the World irregardless of how the harvests in the Southern hemisphere turn out or the prospects for the Fall Harvest in the North. Even if grain is available, they're not going to be able to afford to buy it. Our Secretary of the Treasury, Hank Paulson, warns these countries against establishing artificial price controls on grain. What the fuck does that mean? Several countries are in the process of destabilizing. They also face the prospect of starvation, ethnic cleansing and large scale, forced relocation of population.

We, here in the United States have embarked on a unilateral war of aggression in the Middle East, that has caused over a million deaths and the dislocation of huge populations across the countries of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and it's only just getting started. Percentage wise, virtually all the people killed and made homeless are non combatant civilians. We don't care, because they don't share our immediate ethnocentric, cultural or religious heritage. Fuckit, let'em starve.

Why the Fuck is the Pope coming here? Maybe he should go to the Philippines or Haiti and pass out condoms and food packages, give the people there a little hope. Maybe he should go to Iraq and show a little solidarity with the plight of the heathen masses. Even if he just stayed home at Chez Gandolfo, with Bernie Law, he'd save a little fuel. He's not even on speaking terms with George Bush, on the subject of the war. What's the point? He doesn't want to listen to what his congregants believe. He wants to tell them what to believe. Again. What's the point?

The World needs food and the peace to grow it in. Beat your spears into plowshares. Turn your Humvees and Popemobiles into tractors. Grow some grain, feed some children.

Move along, Nothin' to See Here

I never liked the Dalai Lama. Too pampered. Too effete. The Chicoms take over his country and what does he do? Gathers up all of the Buddhist elite, goes to the West and spends the next fifty years hanging out in Chi-Chi hotels with the rich and famous. The money he collects for the Tibetan cause, I'm sure, goes no farther than his own pocket book. He takes money, under false pretenses from the liberal-elite, instead of elderly, shut-in, rednecks. How does this make him any better than Billy Graham or Benny Hinn?

The Chicom are no liberators of the Tibetan people. They take over a country that has nothing they want but a little strategic location. They move in a lot of Han Chinese and before you know it, the Tibetans are an oppressed minority in their own home. They might not have been doing that great under the Theocracy but Chinese rule has not improved their lot and they are definitely not on a fast track to autonomy.

The Olympics are one of the most foul institutions of the modern era. While there is nothing wrong with international athletic competition, the amount of hype and commercialism associated with the Olympics every four years is immoral. Avery Brundage should have been injected with steroids and hormones until he puffed up like Arnold Schwartzenegger and then drawn and quartered on a Sunday afternoon at the Tijuana bull ring. The Olympics should be boycotted, on general principle, by every right minded sportsman on Earth. To boycott them in the name of Tibetan autonomy, ignores the evil that their existence perpetrates.

There's no heroes here. Nobody's right. No moral high ground. It would be nice if the Tibetans had a shot at self rule but if they did, they would be starving in six months. They don't need the Dalai Lama back. It all sucks.

Couricador-The Last Stand of Network News

Les Moonves already knew network news was dead. The ratings have been going South for decades. I quit watching the network news in the mid-seventies. I started watching the McNeil Lehrer Report on PBS. It was much better. By the late seventies, CNN had put together a totally new type of TV news delivery system and even fewer people watched the networks. Today, on the net, you can access as much or as little, about any breaking news story, anywhere in the World, from whatever perspective you like.

They wanted to try something new with the network news. The problem was, they didn't have the intelligence or imagination to carry it through. In the end, they just tried to pound poor little Katie into the traditional anchor slot, with the predictable result that she looks like an idiot.

Now they are going to kick Katie to the curb and blame the fiasco on her. Well, she was stupid enough to take the job and they are paying her good money to take the fall. I'm sure Barbara will be glad to have her on the View.

Olympic Flame Extinguished in Paris

Damn that Dalai Lama and his Buddofascist gang of extremist thugs. The integrity of the Olympics must not be breached. Tibet must be punished.

Steroid sales could plummet. Imagine the lost revenue in cheesy chatchkas alone. NBC's Summer programming schedules could be disrupted. Bruce Jennings might not be able to keep those Armenian girls in Armani's.

So, what's the procedure? Do they have to go back to the Fields of Marathon and start over again? Can they take a different route this time? Could they just use a torch with cellophane flames lit up by a little bulb and a couple of AAA batteries? I bet if they let naked girls carry the torch, nobody would give a shit if it was lit or not.

100 Years in Iraq

Hey, only 95 more. What a relief, huh?

People throw a lot of numbers around. Probably only around a million killed so far, maybe less. They may have some rough patches to go but the worst is likely over. They will probably lose a lot less than 20 million total and thats over a hundred years. A lot of them will be old people and children and unemployment is very high. They have a very healthy birth rate. They'll come out of this OK.

They may not even notice they're gone.

Petraeus: Weasal, Yes. Scumbag, Yes. Liar, Probably Not

The rumor is that Davey P. will report to Congress next week, that Iranians fought side by side with Mehdi Army militia during the siege of Basra a week ago and that he will use this information to bolster Bush/Cheney's call for direct military intervention into Iran.

I think he may report that the weapons used by the Mehdis came from Iran, because that is true. There is no place else they probably could have come from. I don't think there were Iranians fighting in Basra. I don't think there is or ever will be any proof that there were. I don't think the Iranians like Moctada that much. I think any weapons he gets from Iran, he pays for.

Davey is smart. He's seen where lying has gotten the other big boys in this game. He has a career to manage.

Good Doggy

On April 4th, taking a page from Nazi concentration camp guards of an earlier era, soldiers of the Iraqi Army distributed thousands of food rations and hundreds of thousands of 1 liter bottles of water, to desperately hungry and thirsty residents of a neighborhood in the beleaguered city of Basra, under the eyes of the press.

These were rations confiscated from a charitable organization, earlier in the week, after having refused to let them be distributed, at that time.

Nice guys. I bet the American leadership was not involved. They would never have let them be distributed at all.

Reshuffle, New Deal

Iraq is about to break wide open. The Kurds have autonomy, it is a done deal. They need revenue. The Northern city of Kirkuk will give them that. The Sunnis are rearmed and on the payroll of Petraeus, it is a done deal. They want autonomy and meaningful participation in any future Iraqi government. The Shiia are now divided between the largest faction, the Sadrists and everybody else. The Shiia will get control of the lion's share of the country and the oil revenues, the only question is how it will be split up.

The Americans need to get a handle on the country. They need to forge stable working relationships with the ethnic and religious factions. They also need to dissolve the current nationalized, socialist management of petroleum resources and implement contractual agreements with Big Oil to control and exploit the crude, effectively giving them control of the Iraqi economy. They need to do it fast. It is not a time for subtlety. Chances must be taken. Concessions must be made.

The Americans have lined up all the factions, with the exception of the Sadrists, with the Maliki government. This alliance will now attempt to crush the Sadrists and their militia, the Mehdi Army. There are two questions that remain. The first is where do the Iranians line up? Whoever the Iranians support, will win. The second is, will the Sadrists, if beaten, stay beaten. They are the largest single political faction in the country. They certainly comprise a majority of the Shiia, possibly even the whole country. Even without Moctada al-Sadr to lead them, they will need to line up with somebody. Whoever that is will control the electoral process, if there is an electoral process.

The first goal of this new Maliki led coalition, must be the control and stabilization of the Capital, Baghdad and the assurance of the safety of the Green Zone. After that, they can work on Basra and the other Southern population centers. These new allies will fight for the Americans under the auspices of the Maliki government but will never consent to live under its control. As I have said before, Maliki will have to go. The US will have to make good on its promises, whatever they are. Tehran will have to approve of the outcome, whatever it is.

Always in the background is this. While the Sadrists are the most vociferous in their demands for the American occupation of Iraq to end, none of these factions has any reason to want the Americans to stay in Iraq. They may, in the end, agree to share the oil among themselves but will they share it with the infidel? After the Sadrists are defeated, will they be able to work together to govern or at least be docile enough for the Americans to bribe? Big questions.

Interesting times.

Warmonger!

The Republicans have chosen their strategy. They have, since the beginning of their ill fated, unilateral, indefensible war of aggression in the Middle East, chosen the most visceral, "if you ain't with us, yo're agin' us", brand of hate rhetoric. Anyone daring to advise caution or restraint, in the run up of the War over the last six years, has been called a coward, a traitor and not supportive of the members of the armed forces, ordered to do the bidding of the Bush/Cheney chickenhawk coalition. Little old ladies dressed in pink, brandishing home made placards, have been branded terrorists. Veterans returning from the wars with a negative opinion of it, are "phoney soldiers". Middle aged and older baby boomers of the left, are transformed into "filthy old anti-war hippies".

Each branch of the souless, conservofascist politburo uses it's own special brush to tar the opposition. The greedy corporate fatcats, brand anyone that councils a pay as you go approach to military spending, as "tax and spend" liberals, even as trillions of dollars in war funding are deferred onto federal plastic, to be paid by future generations, at ruinous interest, crippling the economy. As millions are cut down in sectarian strife, around the World, fundamentalist Christians, faux halos shining bright, tout their culture of life and would have you believe that it is the liberals who are responsible for all the death and suffering. The neocons proudly crow that they are bringing democracy and prosperity to the World, while the other side seeks totalitarian enslavement of mankind. What country is it, to which they have brought democracy, peace and prosperity? I know of no such land.

Now, a fat, old, radio talk show host in North Dakota, calls John McCain a Warmonger and the cocksuckers want to call foul. McCain supports the Middle East Wars. He has from the beginning and he continues to today. He doesn't want to stop the fighting. He doesn't want to decrease our troop levels. He foresees a permanent American military presence in Iraq, Kuwait, the UAE, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is in favor of initiating hostilities against Iran, whether it be saturation bombing, invasion or both. He wants to continue and even expand the scope of the Bush/Cheney unilateral, Middle Eastern Wars of aggression.

McCain is no chickenhawk, he was born and raised into the elite, warrior class of the American military. I haven't heard anyone call him that and if they did, I would vigorously disagree. He also is no friend to George Bush and his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I believe he respects the members of the opposition to the Wars in Congress and in the general population. Unlike most Republican congressmen, he is able to work across the aisle. He is also not guilty of the kind of hate speech that has characterized his Republican brethren. Sure, Warmonger is a highly colored and pejorative term but that's exactly what he is, a Warmonger, just as Bush and his chickenhawk minions are. That's the platform he'll have to be elected on. That is the name he'll have to live with. If he's not, let him tell us why not. He hasn't so far. If he truly wants to ratchet down the rhetoric and begin a national dialogue on the merits of the Middle Eastern Wars, I'm sure that would be welcomed.

Prince Philip Sick, Charleton Heston Dead

They could have been brothers. They both had comfortable positions for most of their lives. They did more than they had to. They showed leadership and style. They never let manners or decorum get in the way of honesty. They both thought it was a good idea to drink responsibly and that if you did, it was OK for you to own a gun.

They both spent a lot of time engaged in the appeasement of talking apes under fictional pretenses.

There were never a lot of guys around like Phil and Chuck and not as many now, as there used to be. To Chuck we say goodbye and Godspeed, wherever it is you're off to. To Phil, get well soon. There's few enough can do the kind of work you do and none of them left, in that family of yours.

A Sympathetic Spokesperson

Tony Snow, whose body is riddled with cancer and whose brain is softened and Swiss cheese like, from repeated onslaughts of chemo therapy, has proven to be the ultimate go to guy, for the Bush administration, when it wants to get out the word on its accomplishments in Iraq. The fact that he could die at any moment, goes a long way toward explaining why he is willing to go out on a limb, to champion their cause.

Guest hosting the O'Reilly Factor on Fox Cable today, Snow called Nancy Pelosi a traitor for refusing to declare "mission accomplished" over the US Army's murderous incursion last week, into the Southern Iraqi city of Basra.

Iraqi and coalition forces could have negotiated a return of civil authority to Basra. They could have targeted the criminal elements actually engaged in siphoning off oil revenues at the Basra shipping point. They could have publicly defined their intentions prior to the incursion of troops into the city. They did none of these things. They went in shooting. They targeted only the forces of Moctada al-Sadr.

When things went horribly wrong for them, they went to the Iranians for intercession with the Mehdis. In response to their pleas, al-Sadr reinstated the cease fire and stuck to it, even in the face of continued bloodshed and extreme provocation by coalition forces. The fiction of political progress by the Maliki administration and of American control in Iraq were exposed as a farce.

By the time Nouri Maliki was ready to flee his embattled command post, in Saddam's old Basra Palace, it was surrounded by Mehdi army gunmen, on whose charity he would have to depend for safe passage. He was rescued by American Special Forces in helicopter gunships, in a scene reminiscent of the "last man out" retreat, from the American embassy in Saigon.

Yeah, that bad Nancy Pelosi. What an evil bitch.

Cheeks in a Chunk, Cheese in the Cash. They All Gonna Be There, At that Million Mehdi Bash

Next Wednesday, in Baghdad, Moctada al-Sadr is calling a non violent demonstration, to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the fall of Saddam. The point of this demonstration is to show public dissatisfaction with the continuing American occupation and its puppet civil authority. Maliki and the Americans have no choice but to allow it, to do otherwise would destroy the fiction of Iraqi democracy.

Originally, this demonstration was to be held at a Shiia shrine, in the holy city of Najaf, in the South. It has been changed to a non sectarian gathering, in the Capital. Sadr wants to expand his movement, to all political and religious factions in Iraq. It is a bold move and one that would have been previously unthinkable, without the mutual hatred of the infidel occupation, to bring these disparate groups together.

Sadr has nothing to lose and everything to gain from this move. A huge, successful, anti American rally in Baghdad, during the same day as Petraeus meets with Congress demonstrates Iraqi solidarity and dissatisfaction with the American yoke of oppression. A demonstration disrupted by violence, on the part of governmental or American forces, poses an even more graphic picture for Iraqis, Americans and the World to view. Sadr needs only to keep his people weaponless. An aggressive, unarmed crowd, set upon by an armed force is politically, the best outcome possible for him and one which sets the stage for large scale, violent insurrection.

Sadr is getting smarter. As is so often the case with American foreign adventurism, we construct our own instrument of defeat.

Hand Me That Harp, Son, 'Fore I Tan Yore Hide

Ratso held a special mass to commemorate the third anniversary of the death of the old Pole. He wants to make him a Saint.

This is the guy who once and for all, slammed the door on civil autonomy and reproductive rights for women within the Catholic Church. This is a guy who not only watched, but helped, as a cabal of homosexual pedophiles took over the leadership of the church. This is the guy who exhorted his followers to eschew the separation of church and state and combine church and civil authority. This is the guy who had a "special" relationship with Catholic youth all over the World.

Yeah. Make him a Saint, along with that old slaver, Mother Teresa.

Watch Out

Despite the announced truce in Basra and Nouri Maliki's return to Baghdad today, Iraqi government forces continue to round up and detain whole families of known Sadrist activists in the city. While the truce still holds, it is an ominous sign that fewer stores are open and fewer people are on the streets on Tuesday than the day before.

The residents of Basra probably have a pretty good idea of which way the winds are blowing.

The Iraqi government is firing tens of thousands of employees in the defense and civil establishments thought to have ties to the Sadrists.

Rocket and mortar attacks on the Green Zone continue unabated. The American Embassy is being hard targeted. Employees are sleeping at their work stations and required to wear body armor inside the building. Plans are reportedly being made to move the Embassy to an undisclosed military base outside the Green Zone.

Does it sound to you as if things are returning to normal?

Fuck Bush. Let Him Listen To Them Boo.

Like millions of Americans, I saw President Bush being continuously booed by 60,000 of his fellow citizens, as he threw out the first pitch at the Washington Nationals game, on Sunday. My immediate reaction was one of embarrassment for him. Nobody should have to endure public humiliation on that scale. It was a momentary feeling. It passed, like painful intestinal gas.

The President is not laid up in some VA rehab facility, missing some limbs, most of his face and a large chunk of frontal lobe. He's not an AIDS sufferer, deciding which $234 worth of the $1320 in anti viral medications he needs to stay alive, he will purchase this month. He's not the head of a family in Cleveland, about to be foreclosed out of their 80 year old ramshackle bungalow that nobody else wants, in a neighborhood where every other house is already a gutted, windowless wreck. He's not an 11 year old Indian girl, living on a reservation sans casino, out in the four corners, who already is more blase about sex than a Marseillaise street whore and walks 12 miles each way, every Friday, to buy her father a gallon of wine.