April 23, 2008 archive

Four at Four

  1. What’s wrong with this scenario? The Guardian reports the Senate wants Pentagon to investigate courting of TV analysts. “The US Senate armed services committee today asked the Pentagon to investigate its practice of courting military analysts on popular TV programmes in order to push positive spin on the Bush administration’s anti-terrorism policy.”

    Carl Levin, the Democratic senator who chairs the armed services committee, asked for an internal probe of the Pentagon’s relationship with TV networks in a terse letter to defence secretary Robert Gates.

    Levin chastised the defence department for “giving both special treatment and valuable access” to military analysts who agreed with its decisions “while cutting off access to others who didn’t deliver as expected”.

    “While the media clearly have their own shortfalls for paying people to provide ‘independent’ analysis when they have such real and apparent conflicts, that doesn’t excuse the department’s behaviour,” Levin wrote to Gates.

    Bzzt. Levin cannot honestly expect the Pentagon to investigate itself. Levin needs to hold hearings and put network and Pentagon officials before the kleig lights answering questions. This go and investigate yourself nonsense is bunk. The Pentagon’s motive to lie and hide the evidence is too great. Put it this way Carl, what you propose is like trusting the Iranians to monitor their own nuclear program.

Four at Four continues below the fold with Iran’s alleged nuclear program, the march to war with Syria, an Israeli spy in the U.S., the “war on terror” backfiring, and the struggles of Iraqi women with dead or missing husbands since Bush brought his war to Iraq.

Through the Darkest of Nights: Testament IX

Every few days over the next several months I will be posting installments of a novel about life, death, war and politics in America since 9/11.  Through the Darkest of Nights is a story of hope, reflection, determination, and redemption.  It is a testament to the progressive values we all believe in, have always defended, and always will defend no matter how long this darkness lasts.          

All installments are available for reading here on my page, and also here on Docudharma’s Fiction Page, where refuge from politicians, blogging overload, and one BushCo outrage after another can always be found.

   

Unpatriotic Experts Fret As Handbasket Prices Soar

From HUA News “Your source for news from the Village!”

Standing in the rubble of a once thriving American city, President George “The Torturer” Bush today declared that the…U.S. economy is not in recession.

He declared that it was instead in a totally new phase, previously “unknown to the hordes of the nations unpatriotic librul economists who have been enabling the terrorists who have brutally attacked the economy… by not reporting the good news about our nations economic progress.” He dubbed it, “The Handbasket Phase.” When asked why this name was chosen, he chuckled and replied, “because that is where we are putting all of our eggs!”

To combat this growing threat to the economy, Bush today unveiled a sweeping new emergency economic program dubbed Operation Handbasket. To head the team tackling todays economic non-crisis he has appointed new Economic Czar, Donald Rumsfeld, to be assisted by David Addington, Douglass Feith and John Yoo. They will team with John McCain’s experts to “fully inform the nation that everything is fine and dandy” and that his and McCain’s joint effort will “keep America safe from economistic terrorists wishing to destroy the American way of life” by “spreading hate and propaganda” about rising prices, unemployment and foreclosures. He added that he had given Rumsfeld broad new powers under executive privilege to “do whatever it takes,” and had told them that “this was their baby, go do it.” At press time, this networks economic reporters, all staunch critics of Bush’s economic policies, could not be reached for comment.

McCain added, in what is assumed to be yet another one of the Maverick’s adorable gaffes, that “America is in it’s last throes and the economic terrorists spreading hate have turned the corner on progress.”

[After a quick huddle, the attending press corps all agreed that surely he had actually meant exactly the opposite and so that is what we would report. note to self, do NOT forget to edit this section out of the final piece!!]

Deja Vu Edition: The Coming Chaos

The Democrats are either very naive and  nearsighted or they are willing participants in their own party’s destruction. Perhaps they are a mixture of both. If the Democrats win the election this fall, (personally I think Obama is the odds on favorite), then they are going to be saddled with a plethora of problems. As we reach the breaking point for serious global issues. By not fixing accountability for these long ignored problems on this runaway neocon fascist train, the fallout for ignoring those problems will fall squarely on the leader in charge. You would think that the Democrats would understand this: by not pursuing impeachment and fixing accountability where it belongs, the media will vilify and blame them for all the problems that they will be handed.  

David Petraeus to be sent before US Senate for Central Command confirmation

Being a “YES” man in the Bush Administration, as we all know, certainly can get you some sweet positions in the Government, IF you go along with the lies, deceipt and spin of the Neo-Con elite.

If you manage to really push their unsavory agenda, it can get you the top job, no matter your qualifications (see Gonzales, ALBERTO).

When Admiral James Fallon was asked to be the head of CENTCOM, the Bush Administration put a career Navy man in charge of the entire U.S. Central Command.  When Admiral Fallon was found by the Neo-Con elite to have a mind of his own, he was on the outs with the good-ol-boys club and found the situation so untenable that he resigned in March of this year.

This JUST IN from AP:

Petraeus picked to lead Mideast command

Ray Odierno to replace him as head of U.S.’s military operations in Iraq

in winning, are we losing?

I’ve been thinking about this for days now. Ever since my nephew told me he thought that winning was the reason one plays baseball.

And I thought::: has our obsession with winning turned us into losers? Our family routines, our learning curves, and just plain old having fun all seem to take a beating from the prevailing ends justify the means American mindset.

Is winning market share or baseball games or presidential races more important than how one plays the game, the quality/efficacy of products one puts on the market, or the policies/integrity of candidates?

Winning is only an outcome, isn’t it? What happens to all the stuff that needs to happen to get to the winning? Isn’t all the in-between stuff, those small moments, where we get our life lessons?

                   Photobucket

The rhetoric of the other side: Ecosocialism or Barbarism

This is a rhetorical critique of the anthology Ecosocialism or Barbarism, edited by Jane Kelly and Sheila Malone, an introductory text in ecosocialist thought apparently meant for European audiences.  In it, I suggest that its main problem is that it skimps upon the presentation needed to anticipate objections to its main arguments, and so I suggest amendments here.

Tibet: Protest Organizers in Australia Renew Calls For Nonviolence

Protests have already started in Australia before tomorrow’s Olympic torch relay. So far they have been peaceful, and protest leaders are renewing calls to use nonviolence in the waning hours before the torch takes its course through the streets of Canberra.

Australia Tibet Council chairman George Farley addressed protesters at a candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese embassy:

“The world believes the cause of Tibet is moral,” Mr Farley said.

But he warned world opinion could change if tomorrow’s protests turned ugly.

Mr Farley said the non-violent approach endorsed by the Dalai Lama was the only approach to take.

“If they (pro-China activists) spit on you, just wear it.

“If they attack you, run away. Do not approach the Chinese, do not interact with them.”

link: http://www.smh.com.au/news/bei…

This YouTube is from one of a small group of protesters walking 43 miles while on a hunger strike to join the wider protest in Canberra:

Pony Party, If You Only See One Movie….

I recently had the opportunity to see “The Devil Came on Horseback” on the National Geographic channel (where it will be shown again Friday at 6 p.m. EDT).

It is the story of a U.S. Marine Captain named Brian Steidle, who takes an ‘oversight’ position in Darfur, armed only with a camera, to monitor a cease-fire between the Muslim north and the Christian south.

NHL Playoffs: Round 2

The first round was amazing…i always love the regular-season games, and then always pout, once the playoffs start, that they haven’t been playing this hard all year  ðŸ˜‰  im such hockey brat!!

Anywho…here’s our first round results…

Eastern Conference

Montreal (1) over Boston in 7

Pittsburgh (2) swept Ottawa

Rangers (5) over NJ in 5.

Philly (6) over Washington in 7

Western Conference

Detroit (1) bested Nashville in 6

San Jose (2) beats Calgary in 7

Dallas (5) beat Anaheim in 6

Colorado (6) over Minnesota in 6

The Morning News

The Morning News is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Iraq PM chides neighbors for lack of support

By Rania El Gamal and Ulf Laessing, Reuters

Tue Apr 22, 4:18 PM ET

KUWAIT (Reuters) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki chided neighboring states on Tuesday for failing to bolster ties with Baghdad and write off Iraq’s debts now that Saddam Hussein is gone and Iraq is not a threat to the region.

Maliki, speaking at a meeting in Kuwait of foreign ministers from the region and Western powers, did not name any countries but his remarks appeared aimed at Sunni Arab states that have only low-level ties with his Shi’ite-led government.

He said Iraq was now a vastly different country from that under Saddam, who ruled Iraq with an iron fist for decades until he was ousted in 2003 by U.S.-led forces.

Muse in the Morning

Is there a Universe Day?  If not, why not?  Write a five-paragraph essay on the topic.

Art Link
Star Dance

The Flow of Life

once
upon a time
stars burnt
creating elements
molecules
this and that
chemicals organized
life
began

life
began
on this planet
we are star stuff
organized chemicals
life
began
it has
not ended
yet
from the stars
we come
into them
we will
eventually
go

–Robyn Elaine Serven
–December 29, 2005

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

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