June 2008 archive

Ta dah……… another stunning assessment of George W. Bush, his policies, and what a real president would do from Thomas Friedman in today’s New York Time’s column. Yeah, the inescapable Tom Friedman: a cheerleader of the war in Iraq. A public intellectual and New York Times Columnist… part of that liberal media about which we hear so much.

You do remember Thomas Friedman? The man who brought us such great catch-phrases as the Arab street and Generation Q? Yes. It’s the same one. The exact same one who made the Iraq war sound grand in a 2005 talk:

This is not about oil. This is about something really noble, crazy noble. It is the first attempt in the modern history of the Arab world for Arabs in their own country to forge their own social contract, their own constitution.

Not only would democracy become rampant in the Middle East, but “a successful Iraq is our Iran reform policy.” In his droning, self-assured, and utterly annoying manner, he  told his audience that “The Shi’ite Muslims who will assume the majority of Iraq’s government posts are the same Shi’ites who live in Iran.” According to the newspaper account of the speech, Friedman said if Iraq succeeds it will ratchet up the pressure for democratic reform in Iran.

Well, today’s column is really a gas. And what I really loved about it, Mr. Bush, Lead or Leave (besides the side-splittingly funny lede), is it’s real he-man muscular language. Here’s  a sample…

What they need now is a big U.S. market where lots of manufacturers have an incentive to install solar panels and wind turbines . . . without subsidies.

That seems to be exactly what the Republican Party is trying to block, since the Senate Republicans – sorry to say, with the help of John McCain – have now managed to defeat the renewal of these tax credits six different times.

Of course, we’re going to need oil for years to come. That being the case, I’d prefer – for geopolitical reasons – that we get as much as possible from domestic wells. But our future is not in oil, and a real president wouldn’t be hectoring Congress about offshore drilling today. He’d be telling the country a much larger truth:

“Oil is poisoning our climate and our geopolitics, and here is how we’re going to break our addiction: We’re going to set a floor price of $4.50 a gallon for gasoline and $100 a barrel for oil. And that floor price is going to trigger massive investments in renewable energy – particularly wind, solar panels and solar thermal. And we’re also going to go on a crash program to dramatically increase energy efficiency, to drive conservation to a whole new level and to build more nuclear power. And I want every Democrat and every Republican to join me in this endeavor.”

That’s what a real president would do. He’d give us a big strategic plan to end our addiction to oil and build a bipartisan coalition to deliver it. He certainly wouldn’t be using his last days in office to threaten Congressional Democrats that if they don’t approve offshore drilling by the Fourth of July recess, they will be blamed for $4-a-gallon gas. That is so lame. That is an energy policy so unworthy of our Independence Day.

I loved how he slipped in the for geopolitical reasons that we get as much as possible from domestic wells while encouraging Bush, if Bush wanted to be a real president, to tell the country larger truths.

From what fucking planet is Thomas Friedman? Talking about George Bush telling truth to anybody is ridiculous. To try to appear like you’re a cool environmentally friendly liberal columnist guy and set us up for drilling the arctic is going a tad too far. And oh my god, you’re sorry to say John McCain is leading Republicans in defeating incentives for renewable energy.

Unlike, say, the network television news programs, the print media still makes sporadic bids at covering the Iraq war. (All praise be unto the McClatchy chain, of course).

Last week the Christian Science Monitor carried an interesting piece by Sam Dagher, about a married couple who works as interpreters for the US occupation. They are, unsurprisingly, desperate to get out of the country and into the US. The two, whom Darger calls Chris and Sarah, have completed their paperwork, which requires, inter alia, a written recommendation from a US general (!), but nothing much seems to be happening.

Unlike, say, the network television news programs, the print media still makes sporadic bids at covering the Iraq war. (All praise be unto the McClatchy chain, of course). Last week the Christian Science Monitor carried an interesting piece by Sam Dagher, about a married couple who works as interpreters for the US occupation. They are, unsurprisingly, desperate to get out of the country and into the US. The two Iraqis, whom Darger calls Chris and Sarah, have completed their paperwork, which requires, inter alia, a written recommendation from a US general (!), but nothing much seems to be happening.

The money quote comes near the end of the article:

Both describe the frequent arguments they have with US soldiers stationed in Iraq who do not believe they are fighting for a worthy cause and speak disparagingly of Bush.

There’s the story for you, folks. One more bit of evidence that the troops too have turned against Bush’s sucking chest wound of a war.

Many thanks for the tip to Tom Barton, the indefatigable compiler/editor of the (almost) daily email digest G.I. Special, widely read in the Armed Forces. Check it out here.

A film by Neil Young

Due in theaters July 25

The Trailer

The war in Iraq is the backdrop as the Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young “Freedom of Speech Tour” crisscrosses North America. Echoes of Vietnam-era anti-war sentiment abound as the band connects with today’s audiences.

The Morning News is an Open Thread

Science to follow.

1 Housing rescue plan passes key Senate test

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer

32 minutes ago

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion XV

Developing a message is one thing.  Getting other people to the place where they can understand it is something else.

Art Link Wallpaper Flames The fire that may burn in the belly or on the tongue slowly smoulders in the mind over the kindling of traditional thought Progress begins when I flambé the tissue of my brain over the white hot flame of new perspective –Robyn Elaine Serven –February 8, 2006

Please join us on the inside to celebrate, venerate, regenerate and/or motivate our muses.

So I spend a fantastic, lost weekend at a semi-Illuminati wedding in West Goopersville, California (just north of where Tricky Dick is buried but apparently not forgotten), and while I’m gone, all hell breaks loose.

I actually think ol’ Steno Steny surprised even himself at just how many Dems he was able to sign up for his cunning plan to delete the Fourth Amendment.  The count was so big the Majority DINO must have felt like running right out and having ‘111’ inscribed on his gavel – an idea Bob Novak (of all people) floated a couple weeks ago.

The same source said Pelosi indicated that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer would be her eventual successor as speaker, even though she opposed his election to the second-ranking leadership position.

God help us.

And speaking of bad numbers, how about that 1st Madame Speaker of ours huh?  Identity politics my ass.  Woman, man, or hermaphrodite, Pelosi will still go down in United States Congressional History as one of the most craven hacks ever to bang a gavel.  That is, if there still even is a United States after the 110th Congress is finished with it.

Welcome to the new and improved United-States-In-Name-Only, where privacy is in the toilet, your USINO biometric identity card is in the mail, and your ballot is in the black box.

Meanwhile Barack Obama is looking increasingly comfortable in his new role as presumptive Unitary Executive. (‘President’ is just so 9/10.)  

“Under this compromise legislation, an important tool in the fight against terrorism will continue, but the President’s illegal program of warrantless surveillance will be over.”

Stellar legal analysis there, Barack.  The illegal program to spy on Americans will be over because the new legislation now makes that same program legal.   Thanks for nothing.

And to think that this guy once taught Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago.  Who hired him?  John Yoo?

I’m also now really looking forward to more Obama compromises.  Like with the TELCOS on Net Neutrality, and the oil companies on Global Warming, and the HMO’s on Health Care?  

Something tells me Change is about to become a four letter word.

The bride looked lovely, BTW.

Update: Thanks for the bump Buhdy.

Crossposted from Daily Kos

It had to happen sooner or later.

In spite of John McCain being a technological Luddite with no apparent computer skills, the McCain Camp had to prove conclusively that their guy is hip and fully in tune with the American mainstream and pop culture.

What better way than to invoke the image of a movie character that many Americans are familiar with.  So… they compared Barack Obama to ‘Dr. No’ of the James Bond movies.

Does Obama welcome this comparison?  It isn’t as if Obama doesn’t have the flair for the dramatic, as he demonstrated prior to the Texas Primacaucus.  He’s an ‘Urban Cowboy’ himself!

vs

Dr. No and Barack Obama – coming soon to a theater near you

This report from Judy Miner of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice (WNPJ):

WNPJ and People for Peace in Waupaca promoted the Iraq Moratorium at their PANCAKES for PEACE breakfast June 20 in Custer, WI. Black Iraq Moratorium ribbons were handed out to 350 exhibitors and visitors to the largest Renewable Energy Fair in the country, as they came through the pancake line and visited the WNPJ table in the exhibition hall. That's Louise Pease of People for Peace in Waupaca  pictured, greeting people and offering Iraq Moratorium ribbons at the pancake breakfast.

Deb from Wausau had never heard of the Iraq Moratorium – and was thrilled to put on her black ribbon – asking then for 10 extra ribbons and information sheets about the Moratorium to take back to her workplace in Wausau. [Note to Deb: If you read this, please email [email protected] your contact information so we can help with your efforts.]

So many of the 20,000 participants at the MREA Fair understand the message that “War is NOT the Answer” and that “The Answer….is Blowing in the Wind”….and how the use of clean, renewable solar and wind energy promotes peace by ending wars for oil. And they are taking this path to peace, putting up their own wind turbines – solar panels – living off the grid – insulating – conserving……

The first dozen reports from last Friday's actions, including some from Milwaukee and Hayward, are now on the Iraq Moratorium website. Some are inspirational.  Check it out.