Bernhard, I agree. But look at the US election. Regardless of the scandals, lies, corruption, deaths of innocents, the murdoch evil media focuses on the October Surprise.
What Will Happen Before The Election?
Osama bin Laden captured! 35.7%
Spectacular terrorist attack on US soil! 18.9%
Vote is threatened by terrorist attacks, vote suspended due to red alert. 14.6%
Diebold Election Systems fixes the vote in battleground states. 11.7%
Escalation in Israel, Iran, or North Korea. US opens a new war front. 8.2%
WMD’s found in Iraq! 6.1%
US pulls out of Iraq in October, leaving the UN in charge. 4.8%
Total votes: 8377
http://www.octobersurprise.net/poll.php

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Jul 5 2004 19:32 utc | 3

Teuton, that’s exactly the same reason as me, and I really mourn the loss of Billmon’s comments thread that were made because he tore the news apart and present a gifted synopsis of the real news.
He ignited the sparks and we responded. I’m sure he’s reading this and I hope he can draw upon the energy he has created to hope that Bernhard and his followers here can continue to do so.
Is was a mammoth effort by Billmon, and we should understand how much pressure he created upon himself.

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Jul 5 2004 20:06 utc | 5

And Cloned Poster, I understand Billmon’s act of self-defense. I hope he can recharge his batteries, but at the moment it is more important to keep the community of his commenters together, I think. I am grateful to Bernhard and Jérôme for their efforts.

Posted by: teuton | Jul 5 2004 20:30 utc | 7

Bernhard, right, one can of course try to kill al-Zarqawi all over Iraq. Collateral damage must be accepted for the sake of the greater good. Flatten Sadr-City, turn Mossul to ashes, pulverize Kufa. Why, he could be everywhere! Winning hearts and minds is a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.

Posted by: teuton | Jul 5 2004 21:06 utc | 9

It’s so seldom they publish his full name —
Emanuel Goldstein al-Zarqawi

Posted by: ck | Jul 5 2004 21:19 utc | 11

Actual story headline from the AP wire:
Bush Takes Brisk Bike Ride in Maryland
So, is it possible to die and go to hell without actually noticing it? Are we in a parallel reality? And what happened to Sliders now that we really need it?
And, if Bush is Peter Pan, why does he get so upset by gay people?
I’m telling you, there is something mighty fishy going on around here…

Posted by: serial catowner | Jul 5 2004 23:17 utc | 13

fauxreal (at 7:17 PM)–
would it be such a bad thing to be locked in a civil war?
I’d like to entertain this question, and not in a mode of irony or denial. We often remark, when a joke falls flat in one of our postings, that it’s impossible to ironize on the internet. But it’s also true that it’s sometimes impossible to pose one or another question that can be taken seriously….
Not that civil war itself is deemed impossible: it’s going on in countries all over the world–some of them probably following the great American example. We may eventually come, one of these days, to regard our attack on Iraq as nothing more than our self-interested meddling in a civil war.
Be that as it may, war can seem very fine from time to time, and we ought to accept that fact without having to feel ashamed of it. Only by doing so can we reckon up the cost of acting on it and proceed to back off, if indeed that’s the way to go.
I can’t remember whether you’re among those of our folks who have no taste for poetry, and if you are, please just indulge me while I cite this very lucid passage from Yeats’s “Under Ben Bulben” (Yeats begins by referring to a 19th c. Irish nationalist named “John Mitchel” who wrote, in his “Jail Journal” of 1854, “Give us war in our time, O Lord!”):
“You that Mitchel’s prayer have heard
‘Send war in our time, O LOrd!’
Know that when all words are said
And a man is fighting mad,
Something drops from eyes long blind
He completes his partial mind,
For an instant stands at ease,
Laughs aloud, his heart at peace,
Even the wisest man grows tense
With some sort of violence
Before he can accomplish fate
Know his work or choose his mate.”
Bloodlust isn’t any different from lust, and we all know how lucky we are when when mere lust sets our “hearts at peace” (by simplifying our priorities and giving focus to our attention).
I have an idea that Bush’s appeal lies right here: just at the moment when globalism was getting too complicated, and too frustrating, along came the big blast of 9/11, rather like the starting gun of a footrace, letting the hapless, indolent, indigent Bush do something that really felt good, and set his rather unpeaceful mind at peace. Freud calls this impulse the “death-wish” (and Yeats was a great reader of Freud).
So when I peruse your list of assassinations, near-assassinations, coups, “October surprises” and such,and I feel the least little rush of righteous outrage, I suspect that I’m tapping into this craving for war. And when I find myself getting indignant at Bush and the gang, I have to admit, in all honesty, that a part of me envies the simplicity of their peaceful, unconflicted, barbarous attitude towards life’s more intransigeant problems. A part of me badly wants to get simple with those simple folk, and blow them off the face of the earth with a great big, well-timed and well-placed explosive–not too expensive, thank you very much, and readily available on the internet!

Posted by: alabama | Jul 6 2004 0:12 utc | 15

you have been in a civil war ever since first world war soldiers were refused housing in washington & some of their number were assasinated
your country has been at war with the dispossessed, it has been at war with anyone who ‘effectively’ opposes the policies of dominant culture
it has been at war against those who have tried to pull themselves up from the bootom to play a role in civil society
your country has been at war consistently against those engaged in politicising the silent & tthe scared
your country has been in a conscious civil war eversince marshall was elected to the supreme court
your country has been in civil war since paul robesons mighty vocie sang out for freedom at peekskill
your country has been in civil war ever since it knowing assassinated & extinguished the voices of generation after generation of young black people
this has been a civil war where only one side has really been armed
still steel

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jul 6 2004 1:38 utc | 17

the federal arts project gave us rothko & pollock but it could be argued that the new deal was constructed primarily to soften the resistance of a great majority of people horrified by the first world war & the resulting economic crisis & the development of powerful if small oppositional groups

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jul 6 2004 2:02 utc | 19

Talking about the Reformation…
Calvin believed that a community of the elect had been chosen by God and made up the Calvinist congregation. Before the arrival of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the Hanafi-Sunni Muslims of the Ottoman empire believed (as Hanafi-Sunnis still believe) that Allah would judge individuals on their faith, and that salvation could not be claimed in this life. Is Calvinism, with its insistence on its adherents’ election, so easily distinguished from Wahhabism, with exactly the same fanatical belief in its acolytes’ own goodness? Both produced iconoclasm and theocracy. Is it not fascinating that the followers of Calvin and Ibn Abd al-Wahhab both fostered the rejection of pleasure, song and dance, decoration of sacred buildings, and spiritual culture beyond simple prayer?
“….The belief that America is great because it is Protestant is something we all need to outgrow, the sooner the better — and before that, we need to give up the idea that progress in the Islamic countries will only take place if they imitate the Reformation and find themselves another Luther. First of all, there is no such thing as a rule of uniform global progress, following the same straight line everywhere. But here’s a question to chew on: was life better in Elizabethan England than in Renaissance Italy? Not for Jews. Jews were slain in the streets of London while their relatives printed the Talmud in Venice; later, the Jewish Talmud was burned in Italy, but was printed freely and never burned in Muslim Turkey….”
A Leonardo, not a Luther

Posted by: Helpful Spook | Jul 6 2004 4:01 utc | 21

Helpful Spook, where did you find those wonderful quotes? I’ve been trying, gamely but lamely, to say those very things for a very long while now.

Posted by: alabama | Jul 6 2004 6:29 utc | 23

Helpful Spook- that writer at the link to “A Leonardo” is just the sort that makes me want to scream at the right wing.
He conveniently ignores the entire timeline of prison abuse to suggest that the guards at Abu Ghraib were responding to the actions of Iraqi fighters…and ignoring that the ICRC has said that it appears that perhaps 70 percent were entirely innocent.
he also calls Michael Moore idiotic.
anything of worth he might have to say is lost on me with that sort of bullshit.

Posted by: fauxreal | Jul 6 2004 6:39 utc | 25

Some newsbits:
NYT: Bush troops blame the CIA because CIA did withhold information that did NOT confirm WMD in Iraq. C.I.A. Held Back Iraqi Arms Data, U.S. Officials Say
While the Senate panel has concluded that C.I.A. analysts and other intelligence officials overstated the case that Iraq had illicit weapons, the committee has not found any evidence that the analysts changed their reports as a result of political pressure from the White House, according to officials familiar with the report.
This must be a joke of kind. Bush did not want any information of this kind. Cheney did put pressure on the CIA and their main source of “information” was the Israeli information office at the DOD anyhow. NYT again writes an article that totally depends on “governement officials”.
—
Torture in Afghanistan: Afghan Man’s Death at U.S. Outpost Is Investigated
No, not US troops! These damned Afghans did it!
American forces all over the south and east of the country have hired members of local militias to provide security and local intelligence and accompany them on combat operations. They have given some training that, according to one American commander, includes discussion of human rights.
But the Afghans, former mujahedeen, have been blamed for excesses on joint operations, including looting houses and mistreating villagers. It is not clear who controls the militia forces hired by the Americans.
I wonder who did teach them?
—
Paul Krugman says: Bye-Bye, Bush Boom.
On Friday, President Bush insisted that a seriously disappointing jobs report, which fell far short of the pre-announcement hype, was good news: “We’re witnessing steady growth, steady growth. And that’s important. We don’t need boom-or-bust-type growth.”
Where is the [small GDP] growth going? No mystery: after-tax corporate profits as a share of G.D.P. have reached a level not seen since 1929.
Here comes the 1929 scenario – fasten your seatbelts, folks. See also my posting from Friday: President Bush hailed the report
—
On to WaPa: Parties to Allow Bloggers to Cover Conventions for First Time
—
Proportional versus majority voting systems. Even though it´s about Iraq, this WaPo OpEd stops short of saying the American majority voting system is screwed: The Right Plan for Iraqi Voters
Sir Arthur Lewis cautioned 40 years ago that “the surest way to kill the idea of democracy in a plural society is to adopt the Anglo-American system of First Past the Post.”
—
Warren Buffet (!): Fuzzy Math And Stock Options
Give the bill’s proponents an A for imagination — and for courting contributors — and a flat-out F for logic.
Indeed, the House bill directs the Securities and Exchange Commission to “not recognize as ‘generally accepted’ any accounting principle established by a standard setting body” that disagrees with the House about the treatment of options.
if [House members] are absolutely determined to meddle with reality, they could attack the obesity problem by declaring that henceforth it will take 24 ounces to make a pound.
—
LA Times: U.S. Response to Insurgency Called a Failure nothing new here.
—
Israelis Say Sharon Is Expanding Outposts nothing new here either.
—
The Guardian has George Monbiot on SUV´s Driving into the abyss
—
The Independent has a piece on A video nasty: Terror chief shows off his deadly work
1. Why isn´t this in the US press? 2. Why does the Guardian think that The group of militants is led by Abu Musab [Goldstein] al-Zarqawi?
—
Financial Times shows a problem of printing papers – they are always late. They say Technology shares lead recovery in Tokyo while the “World Stock Indices” Box on their website shows that the Nikkei in Tokyo ended the day half a percent lower.
—
Juan Cole: on clans
The US military has incurred enough clan feuds to keep the insurgencies going. And, of course, Iraqi and Arab nationalisms are powerful enough that people hate seeing Western troops in their country. The line between being angry about it and being angry enough to pick up a gun is a thin one.
—
Aljazeera about making friends: Allawi approves of US air raid on Falluja and Iraqi child killed in US shooting

Posted by: Bernhard | Jul 6 2004 7:11 utc | 27

Keep them coming, Hopeful Spook. They certainly work for me. I wish I knew Arabic one-tenth as well as you know English!
And fauxreal, I hope you don’t think I’m advocating Civil War (and you don’t suggest that I do). But it’s important to kick the tires in these very perplexing times. That’s what I try to do, anyway.

Posted by: alabama | Jul 6 2004 9:10 utc | 29

And Kerry picks Edwards for VP. Not a bad choice from what I can see. Bush will have to waste a few more bucks in some Southern states.
I really tend to think he’s toast, unless some dreadful scenario plays out – some nasty Buscho conspiracy like a second 9/11, a new war or someone taking out the Dem nominee.

Posted by: CluelessJoe | Jul 6 2004 12:58 utc | 31

Run that “It’s all the work of outsiders stirring up trouble in Iraq.” line by me one more time…”
Suspected foreign fighters account for less than 2% of the 5,700 captives being held as security threats in Iraq, a strong indication that Iraqis are largely responsible for the stubborn insurgency….
Few foreign fighters in Iraq
Less than 2%? That’s an even lower figure than the 2% of the ‘Reconstruction budget’ that America’s actually spent in Iraq! So it’s the Iraqis who don’t like the Americans being in Iraq eh? Who would have thought it?

Posted by: Helpful Spook | Jul 6 2004 14:59 utc | 33

Append a quote time…my addition is in bold…
“I have to accept that we have not found them, that we may not find them,” Blair told the House of Commons Liaison Committee. “We do not know what has happened to them. They could have been removed, they could have been hidden, they could have been destroyed, or that they might never have existed in the first place.”
The poodle has got egg on his face.

Posted by: koreyel | Jul 7 2004 1:34 utc | 35

War news
…Projectiles explode near Iraqi PM’s offices wounding at least five people, five Iraqi soldiers killed near Taji…
Four more US Marines killed in Anbar province, Iraq

Posted by: Helpful Spook | Jul 7 2004 12:53 utc | 37

In the age of terrorism, the rule is: celebrate early, if at all
…Secrecy and control must become our watchwords if democracy is to survive in the age of terrorism and continue to confront the enemies of freedom – tyrants, such as Saddam Hussein, who operate by secrecy and control that are the very opposite of our own traditions…
In Iraq, it’s already July 9th

Posted by: Helpful Spook | Jul 7 2004 13:05 utc | 39

Good news! Ronald Reagan – worth more dead than he ever was when alive
Reagan funeral items selling fast on eBay
Even better news! He’s still dead.

Posted by: Helpful Spook | Jul 7 2004 13:29 utc | 41