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August 31, 2004
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Several Killed in Israeli Bus Bombings
I´m afraid Sharons answer will be terrible.
Posted by: b | Aug 31 2004 12:38 utc | 1
CP, your thinking moves in the wrong direction. The consequences of the bombing are these:
a) The wall is not high enough (look at the great job the Chinese have done with theirs), and
b) there must be a dead zone beginning one mile before the wall, and
c) all Palestinians must be forced to stay in their homes most of the time – on second thoughts, make that all of the time.
Voilà – peace and safety. Simple…
Posted by: teuton | Aug 31 2004 14:28 utc | 3
Russia/Germany/France Summit.
NO BBC reporting at all?
Teuton – What’s the German media saying?
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Aug 31 2004 17:13 utc | 4
@cp
Putin Defends Chechnya Policy at Talks
Sounds like a quite friendly meeting. A Russian, German and French talking English.
Posted by: b | Aug 31 2004 17:18 utc | 5
CP, I’ve just seen it on the news and have read a bit about it. The TV-report was absolutely nondescript (all three symbolically sitting down at a table). Terrorism is a main topic (officially), and it was overshadowed / complemented by the car bomb in Moscow. My first impression is that Schroeder particularly is trying to keep a very low profile about it (“don’t let it look like this is directed against the US”). “Move on, people, nothing to see here, no new anti-US axis of semi-evil.”
BTW, I see that Giuliani has scored at the repub convention by saying that “the Germans set terrorists free” in 1972 (when a plane was hijacked, which he didn’t say). Loud boos from the convention members… Ah, it must feel so good to always have somebody you can despise, provided it’s not yourself. Don’t look into the mirror, goppers.
Posted by: teuton | Aug 31 2004 17:40 utc | 6
Iraq news:
Iraqi Groups Claims It Killed Three Israelis
U.S. Troops Wounded in Iraq Near 7,000
Twelve Nepalese hostages murdered
MoD refuses plea for more Basra troops
Al-Sadr calls for end of fighting : US air raid kills 4 Iraqi civilians
Release of French hostages ‘imminent’ says Al-Arabiya TV
Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will field candidates in Iraq’s first elections and campaign on a platform calling for the withdrawal of U.S. forces
14 killed, 135 injured in Iraq clashes
Israel to US: Now for Iran
Some pictures from last week in Najaf – we all have read the meme that Sadrs fighters are the young and unruly from Baghdad slums – take a look:
Young Sadr fighter
Young Sadr supporters
Young Sadr fighter
Young fighter wounded
Young girl fighter
Young fighter
Very young fighter
Young fighter
Realy young Sadr fighter
Young fighter fighting
The picture are by G. friend of blogger Salam Pax
Posted by: b | Aug 31 2004 18:59 utc | 7
Sharon to call out the wolves on his own people:
The cabinet also decided that the physical evacuation of settlers who refused to leave would be carried out by the police, rather than the army. The tough, paramilitary border police are expected to receive the assignment which will almost certainly involve clashes with masses of demonstrators.
That should be interesting. We’ve seen a lot of arabs pitted against arabs on our big screens, but not many jews versus jews.
I wonder if they will use bulldozers like they did against the Palestinians?
In the meawhile… I’d rather be windsurfing too…in fact… a wonderful sentiment: to hell with this country, cowabunga!
Posted by: koreyel | Sep 1 2004 2:07 utc | 9
GEN Barbara Fast’s assumption of command at Huachuca has been put on hold.
Posted by: Pat | Sep 1 2004 3:34 utc | 10
From the NYT:
…Pentagon officials said in a statement on Friday that no one at the Defense Department beyond Mr. Franklin was suspected of any wrongdoing. Neither Mr. Wolfowitz nor Mr. Feith is regarded as having any involvement in the matter other than as potential witnesses because of their familiarity with Mr. Franklin’s work.
So far, no charges in the case have been brought, but behind the scenes government lawyers prepared to make the first arrests by issuing a criminal complaint against one or more figures in the case, government officials said on Monday.
A complaint is a relatively quick method of charging someone with a crime. The use of that approach suggested that the government has decided to move quickly to resolve the legal questions in the yearlong national security case rather than wait for indictments after a grand jury investigation.
Mr. Franklin’s legal status is unclear. The authorities believe that Mr. Franklin gave a draft policy directive on Iran to officials from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or Aipac, who then provided the information to Israeli intelligence.
Aipac and Israel have denied that they engaged in any wrongdoing. Efforts to contact Mr. Franklin have been unsuccessful, but friends and associates have said he was a highly ethical government employee with little access to senior policy makers who would never have violated the law.
Mr. Franklin has been cooperating with the federal authorities and is thought to be negotiating a deal with the government that could result in leniency in the form of reduced charges in exchange for his information about other people in the case. It is not clear when or even whether he will be charged in the case…
Posted by: Pat | Sep 1 2004 3:47 utc | 11
TPM exerpts from an article on the Franklin investigation in the Globe:
Richard Perle, a former assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration and current adviser to the Pentagon, said the investigations are baseless and politically motivated.
“It’s pretty nasty, and unfortunately the administration doesn’t seem to have it under control,” said Perle, calling on the administration to defend Feith more vigorously.
Posted by: Pat | Sep 1 2004 3:52 utc | 12
@Pat:
Thanks for the update.
Getting interesting.
I’m sure that there are numerous lawyers who would advise Mr. Franklin “Pro bono”.
Posted by: Anonymous | Sep 1 2004 4:15 utc | 13
George Will on Contemptuous Collaboration in Tuesday’s WaPo:
President Bush’s convention challenge is to tell voters, who already know America is at war, how the parties differ. Last week he made it dismayingly clear that, in the parties’ contempt for the First Amendment, they don’t.
Bush spokesman Scott McClellan cheerily reported Bush’s vow to join John McCain in trying to “shut down” what McClellan called — nine times in four minutes — “shadowy” groups. He means citizens working quite publicly — contributions to “527” organizations can be scrutinized on the Internet — to influence U.S. governance.
But the political class wants them silenced –“outlawed,” Bush says — because it considers the political process its private property. And Bush, adopting the cringing posture so prevalent in today’s scramble to be seen as a victim, says, “I understand how Senator Kerry feels — I’ve been attacked by 527s too.” Oh, well, then.
Bush, a supposed critic of the imperial judiciary, wants a court to order the Federal Election Commission to, in McClellan’s words, “shut down” all such groups. And if a compliant court cannot be found, McClellan says Bush will try legislation. First try judicial fiat, then legislation as a last resort. Ah, conservatism.
Posted by: Pat | Sep 1 2004 4:17 utc | 14
@ Pat:
When George Will says stuff like that, there’s “Big Trouble in little China”; or something.
You’ve undobtedly read Pat B., Georgie Guyer, and Steve Chapman on similar subjects.
Posted by: Anonymous | Sep 1 2004 4:28 utc | 15
I take that NYT article with a grain of salt. The investigation is an extremely puzzling one, not least because Mr. Franklin makes an odd suspect.
…
Trouble’s been brewing in the Republican Party for decades, mostly because the party establishment, like that of the Democrats, follows broad, long-term a-partisan trends that take shape at a higher level.
Posted by: Pat | Sep 1 2004 5:14 utc | 16
At al Jazeera:
Many arrested in Iran for nuclear spying
8/31/2004 3:25:00 PM GMT
Source: AFP
Iran has arrested dozens of spies, including several who passed classified information about its nukes program to the country’s enemies, Iranian Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi said on Tuesday.
“The Intelligence Ministry has arrested a number of spies that transferred Iran’s nuclear intelligence (abroad),” Yunesi was cited as saying by the official IRNA news agency, but he did not say when the arrests had taken place.
The minister also said that many of those arrested were linked to the Iraq-based Iranian opposition group; the People’s Mujahideen Organization (MKO).
“The Monafeqin (hypocrites) played the main role in transferring the information,” he said, referring to the People’s Mujahedeen, Iran’s main armed opposition group based in Iraq.
Posted by: Pat | Sep 1 2004 6:16 utc | 17
Looks like we no longer need to be jealous of the American Dream!
Daring to dream – Europe is no utopia but, using Britain as a bridge, it can share its global vision with the US
Posted by: Fran | Sep 1 2004 6:55 utc | 18
ACLU filled a brief against the patriot act but was prohibited to publish the filing uncensored because of the patriot act. “The disclosure would pose a threat to national security”.
The governement demanded several parts to blackened out before publishing including this one:
“The danger to political dissent is acute where the Government attempts to act under so vague a concept as the power to protect ‘domestic security.’ Given the difficulty of defining the domestic security interest, the danger of abuse in acting to protect that interest becomes apparent.”
This is a direct quote out of supreme court decision. Its “disclosure would pose a threat to national security”!
Background by ACLU
Posted by: b | Sep 1 2004 7:03 utc | 19
News from sovereign Iraq:
Leaders of the Mahdi Army, the rebel force led by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, and two well-placed Iraqi sources said an agreement had been reached late Monday that called for the disarming of the rebel force and a halt in American military operations in Sadr City.
Mahdi Army commanders and other Iraqi sources said Tuesday that Dr. Allawi backed out of the agreement on Tuesday morning.
…
Mr. Nasiri said he had been told by one of the government’s negotiators, Qassim Daoud, the minister of state, that Dr. Allawi had objected to the restrictions placed on Americans soldiers operating in the area. Under the agreement, the Americans would be limited to performing reconstruction work; anything more aggressive than that would require the permission of the Iraqi government.
…
“He wants to humiliate Moktada,” the source said of Dr. Allawi. “He needs a victory.”
…
“Allawi is a Baathist at heart, and he inherited all of his thoughts and behavior from them,” said a senior leader of an Iraqi political party. “He is like Saddam; he has a smile on his face, but a gun in his hand to shoot you with – and he will use it.”
NYT: Talks to Disarm Shiites Collapse
Posted by: b | Sep 1 2004 7:26 utc | 20
b–
The conclusions re: Allawi’s intentions from the Filkins/Eckhold piece should be #1 in the talking points for every Dem surrogate who goes anywhere within 50 green rooms of a Caballarian Shrieker between now and Nov 2nd.
For it all to come down to this after all that has been spent (in human as well as monetary terms) is just sickening.
This kind of stuff must be used, full throttle to make sure that no Hannity, Limbaugh, O’Reilly or Coulter can ever get away with playing the ‘Saddam had to be removed because he was a bad guy’ trump card ever again.
Posted by: RossK | Sep 1 2004 7:36 utc | 21
Juan Cole does not expect any serious outcome from the current FBI investigation on Israel spying against the US. He sees parallels:
One Iran-Contra figure, who lied to Congress, now serves in the National Security Council as the person in charge of the Israeli-Palestine issue. That is Elliot Abrams, who was pardoned by Bush the elder and now sets White House policy on among the more important issues affecting US relations with the Muslim world. Bush may as well have just appointed Ariel Sharon to advise him on how to deal with Ariel Sharon (though to be fair, Sharon is probably more pragmatic than and to the left of Abrams).
Moreover, if Sharon and AIPAC decide that they need to US government to take military action against Iran, it is likely that the US government will do so.
Link
Also at Juan´s site a guest editorial by Charles Smith
In sum, the Bush administration is quietly abandoning the Road Map and the possibility of a Palestinian state despite denials to the contrary. It is doing so to fulfill Likud Revisionist goals of an Israeli state extending from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, goals shared by Christian evangelicals who are a key part of Bush’s reelection strategy. The U.S. press has ignored the implications of these developments which the administration has sought to obfuscate, proclaiming its adherence to the Road Map while referring to ongoing Israeli settlement expansion as “unhelpful.”
Posted by: b | Sep 1 2004 7:52 utc | 22
Washington Post on lobbying at the GOP convention. In short: The lobbyists are running the GOP and the convention:
Industry Advocates Play Key Convention Roles
While more prominent lobbyists such as Isakowitz and Gates have been given high-profile assignments at the GOP convention, about 100 others are doing the grunt work. These men and women make sure speakers get on and off the podium on schedule. They escort elected officials and their families to the convention floor. They run the floor whip operation, directing delegates through all their duties, from waving placards to attending platform committee meetings. They also served as senior staffers for the committee that wrote the party platform.
Posted by: b | Sep 1 2004 8:49 utc | 23
Language is power!
More on Korzybski, by Robert Anton Wilson
TOWARD UNDERSTANDING E -PRIME
I really believe if this information were studied and taught we would have more sane society, thanks kate…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 1 2004 8:53 utc | 24
Our worst fears:
By entering a 2-digit code in a hidden location, a second set of votes is created in the Diebold central tabulator, a program installed in 1,000 locations, which controls both paper ballots and touch-screens, each system handling up to a million votes at a time.
OUR WORST FEARS, at black box voting
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 1 2004 9:04 utc | 25
Barcelona has a Placa George Orwell – with video surveillance. Photo
But at least it´s announced.
Posted by: b | Sep 1 2004 11:04 utc | 26
A propos of current events I recommend this piece, (in PDF format) from the General Semantics site:
War Words and Tired Symbols
Posted by: Kate_Storm | Sep 1 2004 11:52 utc | 27
Jerusalem Post
“The excitement is palpable. You can almost feel it in the air. The dictators of the Arab world just can’t wait for George W. Bush to lose the US presidential election in November.
Gripped with fear as they watch Bush’s democratic experiment in Iraq take shape, the tyrants and despots of the Middle East are pinning their hopes on Democratic challenger John Kerry to prevail.
After all, the last thing they want to see is a second-term Bush determined to reform the region, a development that would threaten their grip on power and stymie their efforts to obtain more lethal types of weaponry.
And so the rhetoric in the Arab world is heating up, pointing to a real desire to see the US president go down in defeat.”
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Sep 1 2004 13:10 utc | 28
@Kate Storm:
I can see what you’re saying, but I can’t hear you too well.
A Deaf Russian “Rocker” and his Grand Daughter
An interesting read, really.
Posted by: Josey Wales | Sep 1 2004 13:20 utc | 29
REPORT OF INVESTIGATION BY THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF HOLLINGER INTERNATIONAL INC.
The Special Committee believes that Perle’s repeated failure to read, evaluate, discuss or attempt to understand the Executive Committee Consents before signing them evidences a complete absence of good faith, a breach of loyalty and an abject failure to fulfill his fiduciary duties as an Executive Committee member. Such conduct subjects him to personal liability for breaching his duty of good faith.
Perle’s misconduct also has duty of loyalty implications. Throughout Perle’s tenure as an Executive Committee member, he was dependent on Black and Radler for his compensation as a Hollinger Digital officer. His service to them paid off particularly handsomely in 2000. In that year, as detailed below, he received almost $3 million in payments under the Digital Incentive Plan, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of dollars he was already receiving in salary, “retainer,” directors’ fees, and stock options. Perle clearly had a motive to abdicate his fiduciary duties as an Executive Committee member so as to accommodate the persons responsible for his huge Hollinger compensation, Black and Radler.
…
The Special Committee believes that Hollinger is entitled to recoup Perle’s Digital Incentive Plan bonus payments. Perle was a faithless fiduciary as an Executive Committee member and, thus under Delaware law, should not be allowed to retain any of his Hollinger compensation, including his Digital Incentive Plan bonuses, salary and directors’ fees. The Special Committee intends to pursue a recovery from Perle, either consensually or through litigation.
Posted by: b | Sep 1 2004 14:36 utc | 30
A touch of paranoia in my thinking? The Republicans have just taken their complaint against the FEC to court. If they lose a close election, I can see them launching a legal action to disqualify the vote on the grounds that the 527s wrecked the electoral process. It wouldn’t surprise me if they did this regardless of any court action, taken or pending, on their FEC complaint,, and it also wouldn’t surprise me if they took it all the way to the Supreme Court.
What they did in 2000 defines them forever, in my view.
Posted by: alabama | Sep 1 2004 16:07 utc | 31
b–
As a north of 49er, I apologize profusely for the actions of chief Hollinger fraudster Conrad Black, who also must take a large portion of the blame for initially unleashing the sycophancy of David Frum on the, now much less, civilized world.
Posted by: RossK | Sep 1 2004 16:07 utc | 32
It’s all tumbling down. (ref. b’s Hollinger report above ot 10:36) Perle has a slithery way of escaping these things tho; I think he has the goods on a lot of important people, like the VP for one..Watching this one with interest.
Here’s ome you really can’t miss. Ruppert gets before the Commonwealth Club last night and openly directly accuses Dick Cheney of orchestrating the 9/11 mass murder. He presents evidence. Excellent. In FTW if the link below fails.
FTW
Still working on the linking thing. See if it works this time.
Posted by: rapt | Sep 1 2004 16:38 utc | 33
Kristof has a quick bright piece today:
Indeed, the only person who seems to provide Shakespeare’s kings with sound advice is the court fool, who cannot be punished for saying unpalatable truths because jesting is his job. I urge Mr. Bush to appoint a White House fool.
I’d like to recommend Ralph Nader to the position.
A motley tunic befits him.
Posted by: koreyel | Sep 1 2004 16:45 utc | 34
It’s a harsh world out there, isn’t it? From the Washington Times:
By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published September 1, 2004
——————————————————————————–
A U.S. military intelligence report says that followers of radical Shi’ite cleric Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr imprisoned, killed and mutilated Iraqis who opposed his insurrection.
American intelligence officers are now investigating in the town of Najaf, the site of Sheik al-Sadr’s bloody standoff with coalition forces. A U.S. military officer told The Washington Times that the command recently acquired photos of 15 to 20 mutilated bodies that appear to be Iraqis lying in a courtyard.
A written U.S. intelligence report, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times, puts the body count much higher, based on an Iraqi informant, some of whose information was confirmed by local police.
The report said that after last week’s truce, Iraqi forces moved into buildings held by the radical cleric’s Mahdi’s Army militia and found the bodies.
“Inside the court building, Iraqi police found approximately 200 mutilated bodies taken by the Moqtada militia for speaking out against Moqtada al Sadr,” said the intelligence report sent to the Pentagon and stamped “secret.”
“Some of the prisoners had eyes and ears drilled out and others had their limbs and heads cut off. Some males had genitals cut off and shoved in their mouths. There was evidence of rape to men, women and children,” according to the report.
The senior officer, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the number of bodies found is much less than 200. The source said that while it appears certain that the bodies exist, the circumstances of when and where the people were killed, and by whom, remained unknown yesterday.
“We don’t have a complete picture of where they came from,” the officer said. “We’re trying to uncover what really happened before we are able to release information.”
Posted by: Pat | Sep 1 2004 18:46 utc | 35
@Pat
It was reported by AFP at the end of the seige that “Iraqi” police carried bodies from the street into shrine.
Propaganda pure and simple, both sides play it and only one side reports it in the Western media.
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Sep 1 2004 18:50 utc | 36
Propaganda pure and simple, both sides play it and only one side reports it in the Western media.
Amen.
Although…also…let’s face it–> Allawi/al Sadr/Hussein/Chalabi–> wtf does it matter to me?
I am pissed that my government let itself get dragged into this Mid East Hell.
That was the biggest jerk-mistake ever made by a president–superceding even that of Vietnam.
The only roll the US should have ever have played in that region was as peace-maker/ peace-mediator.
Although if you wanted to throw 200 billion at the problem then here is a suggestion: create a Palestinian state and help them onto their economic feet.
Instead…jerk-bush has plunged our boot soldiers right into the lion’s gaping mouth. And sprayed the region with cluster bombs. As if that ever solved anything in the unholy land.
And half my idiot countryman applaud…
Go figure.
Posted by: koreyel | Sep 1 2004 19:41 utc | 38
@koreyel
“Although if you wanted to throw 200 billion at the problem then here is a suggestion: create a Palestinian state and help them onto their economic feet.”
What if none of the regional leaders really want an independent Palestinian state?
Posted by: Pat | Sep 1 2004 19:52 utc | 39
@ rapt
Stepping out of Babylon on kpfa is currently playing an interview from yesterday w/ Ruppert before his speech to the Commonwealth. It should be archived later here.
Posted by: b real | Sep 1 2004 20:07 utc | 40
Pat if that is the case than the situation is beyond redemption.
And even more reason not to plunge our country’s nose into the middle of that suppurating gash of humanity.
The old saying is “touch the devil and you can’t let go.”
Bush didn’t just touch the devil…he stripped our country naked and belly dived us into the rancid heart of this festering morass.
We are up to our knees in the boiling mud and the stinking ooze is sucking us deeper.
At the convention Bush 41 made some comments along the lines of “who would dare think the world is not safer with Saddam gone? And who would dare hope he is still in power?”
Well allow me to stand up and raise my hand high.
Damn straight.
I wish my country never stepped foot into Iraq, and that Saddam was still in power and writing his dirty little novels.
Posted by: koreyel | Sep 1 2004 20:19 utc | 41
The draft resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, calls for “the strict respect of Lebanon’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity and political independence.”
It “demands that Syrian forces withdraw without delay from Lebanon” and declares the Security Council’s “support for a free and fair electoral process in Lebanon’s upcoming presidential election conducted according to Lebanese constitutional rules devised without foreign interference or influence.”
Sometimes I am dumbfounded at the nerve and blatant hypocrisy of the US gummint. Just imagine the very same resolution with Iraq substituting Lebanon and US instead of Syria.
Posted by: Dan of Steele | Sep 1 2004 20:23 utc | 42
“I wish my country never stepped foot into Iraq, and that Saddam was still in power and writing his dirty little novels.”
USA stepped into Israel a long time ago Koreyel……..and the Brits have never left a colony without Civil War (aside from Tanzania maybe?)
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Sep 1 2004 20:28 utc | 43
UN whores Dan of Steele.
France are backing the US resolution re Lebanon.
They want the Beirut playground back.
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Sep 1 2004 20:31 utc | 44
The guys who had the shittiest mission on 9-11 endorse the guy who stayed away:
New York firefighters to endorse Bush
MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) _ The union representing the city’s 8,600 firefighters will endorse President Bush Wednesday night at a social club in Queens, bolstering the Bush campaign’s efforts to focus the nation’s attention on the president’s leadership following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Uniformed Firefighters Association president Steve Cassidy said he will announce the union’s endorsement as he stands beside Bush at the Italian Charities of America hall in Elmhurst. Cassidy and Bush will share a meal of pizza and sodas with about 100 firefighters and watch Vice President Dick Cheney’s address to the Republican National Convention, Cassidy said.
“The reason we’re supporting President Bush is leadership,” Cassidy said. “Post-9/11 we needed someone who had the courage and the integrity to do what was right for this country. The president said he would take the fight to the terrorists and he has done that.”
Posted by: Pat | Sep 1 2004 20:39 utc | 45
@koreyel
I am pissed that my government let itself get
dragged into this Mid East Hell.
It wasn´t dragged in. It deliberately -and with support of the US majority- interferes with the ME for the last 60 some years. Sawing wind…
Posted by: b | Sep 1 2004 20:52 utc | 47
I’ve just seen excerpts of Arnold and Bush’s women at the repub convention – it is beyond belief. How can anybody take such a meaningless circus show seriously? A particularly ruthless, over-emotionalized exploitation of the weak-minded. And of course, the mob goes completely bonkers. Children’s television. A good portion of the most powerful people on earth is supposed to fall for that? Chilling.
Posted by: teuton | Sep 1 2004 21:53 utc | 48
Yeah I know the US has been in the ME for 60 years.
And various US administrations have been in Venezeula and Guatamela and Honduras and etc. etc. doing their nefarious little republican deeds.
It doesn’t make me happy.
But there is a marked difference between playing dirty pool off the media map and rolling tanks in Baghdad.
We got tanks in Baghdad, Karbala, and Basra.
If anthing….that shows that Osama bin Laden has at least 50 more points on his IQ score than Bush.
Osama is the fisherman, and Bush took the hook.
And there went my country….link, hook, and sinker.
I mean really…if you are going to play geopolitics…at least show some shrewd intelligence.
Please.
Posted by: koreyel | Sep 1 2004 21:57 utc | 49
@Teuton
“A good portion of the most powerful people on earth is supposed to fall for that?”
They did at the Adolf rallies………… the history book on the shelf is always repeating itself………..Waterloo
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Sep 1 2004 21:58 utc | 50
“at least show some shrewd intelligence.”
Corruption is not intelligent………..just pure pigs at the trough…………
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Sep 1 2004 22:00 utc | 51
Can someone tell me why Sen. Zell Miller is still considered a democrat????
Good lord…
If I was chair of the democratic party that asshole would be giving his speech with two black eyes and a nose bleed.
And no one would be calling him a democrat anymore.
Man…
Posted by: koreyel | Sep 1 2004 22:10 utc | 52
CP, I know about the Adolf rallies. But the Germans at the time were exposed to the seductive power of the new mass media for the first time in history. (That’s not an excuse, of course.) If the people of the US are not media-savvy, I don’t know who could be; I mean, they have had it longer and in higher doses than anyone else. But then, they have got the highest media concentration… Springsteen’s “50 Channels and Nothing On” comes to mind. Although I should have become used to it by now, I found the convention excerpts I saw infuriating in all their daft self-complacency.
Posted by: teuton | Sep 1 2004 23:22 utc | 53
@Teuton:
Forget about “Adolf Rallies”; Everyone loves to play with historical analogies to the present situation in America. And all you Germans, French, Russians,Brits, Americans please stop apologising for what happened when you were not even born.
And in America, right now Teuton, it’s really about “50 channels and nothing on”.
Posted by: Walter Crankcase | Sep 2 2004 1:16 utc | 54
Re: Zell Miller.
I forgot to mention Zell would be snaggletoothed, walking with a limp, and have his arm in a sling– AND his mistress would be all over the telly saying how lousy he is in bed.
What?
You say he doesn’t have a mistress?
Should that matter?
You want ethics in American politics? Okay here is the golden rule:
Do unto republicans as they would do unto you.
Tomorrow I go back to being an independent in my voter registration.
I refuse to belong to a party of wimps that seems to enjoy being slapped around by republican brutes.
Suggestion: Let’s stop calling them Rs and Ds or repugs and dims. From now on I suggest: Sadists and Masochists.
Posted by: koreyel | Sep 2 2004 1:38 utc | 55
Re: Zell Miller
As one convention-goer put it, “Miller tore off Kerry’s arms and then proceeded to beat him with them.” Yeah, I’d say that’s about right. (Believe it or not, the speech was toned down somewhat from the original draft, at the urging of convention organizers.) Then Cheney came on to calmly, matter-of-factly finish the job.
It’ll be a very interesting eight weeks – and probably one helluva night in November – won’t it?
I’ve been trying to find good political websites for keeping track of the horse race and one of the better ones I’ve seen is the non-partisan Cook Political Report (cookpolitical.com). It contains, among other things, an electoral college scorecard and, for those of us who need to be reminded where the action’s really at this time around, a good article on the critical states:
The Magic Formula: Two out of Three?
By Charlie Cook
© National Journal
September 1, 2004
Matthew Dowd, the chief Bush campaign strategist, made the argument on Monday that whichever presidential candidate wins two out of a crucial three states — Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania — will probably be the next president. The next day, without knowing about Dowd’s prediction, former Clinton White House Political Director Doug Sosnik made the very same forecast.
While there are certainly other important battleground states, Dowd and Sosnik are likely to be right. The electoral votes in Florida (27), Ohio (20), and Pennsylvania (21) total 68, plenty more than the 52 electoral votes in the seven other states that can be considered toss-ups right now: Iowa (7), Minnesota (10), Missouri (11), Nevada (5), New Hampshire (4), New Mexico (5), and Wisconsin (10).
Each state tells a somewhat different story. For example, in Pennsylvania, an increasingly Democratic-leaning state, President Bush was doing surprisingly well for a long time; then, about two months ago, John Kerry started pulling up and away. But in the past three weeks, Bush has pulled back up to a position of being basically even with Kerry, give or take a point or two.
In Ohio, Kerry was up a couple of points. Today, Bush is probably up by a point or two — pretty amazing, given the economic beating that state has taken over the past few years. The state remains extremely close, with the economy and jobs the No. 1 issue.
In Florida, the economy has been fine; demographics are giving the Republicans fits. Today, Florida has more Democratic-voting Puerto Ricans and Mexican-Americans than it has Republican-voting Cuban-Americans. Florida, which was trending toward the GOP so reliably in the 1980s and early 1990s, is now headed back toward even-steven…
Posted by: Pat | Sep 2 2004 8:23 utc | 56
“I wish my country never stepped foot into Iraq, and that Saddam was still in power and writing his dirty little novels.”
Saddam is working diligently on his fifth novel. The provisional title is The Great Awakening.
I’m not kidding.
Not much consolation, I know, koreyel.
Posted by: Blackie | Sep 2 2004 10:38 utc | 57
Fafnir says
– Approaching Your Republican! Do not be scared or nervous when you see a Republican. He is much more scared of you than you are of him! Communicate with large friendly motions an giant puppets. Your Republican will see you are not a threat an should relax momentarily. Then you can earn his trust with an offering of food like pickles or nuts or baby’s blood!
Posted by: b | Sep 2 2004 10:58 utc | 58
U.N.: S.Korea Enriched Uranium Close to Bomb Fuel
That´s an “S” like in “South”.
The IAEA said in a statement that Seoul told the agency “these activities were carried out without the government’s knowledge at a nuclear site in Korea in 2000.”
At the same time, the diplomat said the scientists were government employees working at a government-run facility.
Who will scream for sanctions against South Korea now?
Posted by: b | Sep 2 2004 12:37 utc | 60
In re: storms.
Effects of Gaston (11+ inches of rain in 10 hours) + 2 day power outage + 2′ of water in basement + too many books/nature abhors a void = a box of special books drowned.
Question to bookworms: Can I salvage them? How?
🙁
Posted by: beq | Sep 2 2004 12:41 utc | 61
Those folks were on drugs. Maybe on the same drug–viz. a dead hall with a dead audience (fitfully animated, but still dead)–but assisted as well by some personal psychotropic attention: Laura was clearly on Prozac, Miller on speed (or maybe an overdose of ritalin–it’s one and the same), and Cheney on xanax. I’ve used them all, so I speak as someone who thinks he knows what he’s talking about…..And why dope up like this? Well, the parties were probably fun–not to mention the whores and all that–but the mood in the tomb has been, by all report, pure terror: one little slip and you lose your right hand, or the fifth finger, anyway, of your right hand. A peculiar hell–the mirror-image of what we thought was “Baghdad” eighteen months ago…..
Posted by: alabama | Sep 2 2004 13:33 utc | 62
Watch Zell Miller with Matthews yesterday – he really, really lost it: The Link is down half the page
Posted by: b | Sep 2 2004 13:57 utc | 63
Matthews:
“I´m wondering if you thinks tonights speech and advertisements that show people like Max Cleland standing next to Sadaam Hussein are helping bring this country together?”
Miller:
“That didn´t have anything to do with Max Clelands defeat. We´ve already, we´ve already beat that dog to death”
Matthews:
“Well maybe the war did that too.”
Posted by: b | Sep 2 2004 14:12 utc | 64
Those silly compassionate repubs… I’m looking forward to some good critical analyses of the mindf*cking that went on last night. Lies, Hypocrisy and Fascism, oh my. The “W” signs were a stand-in for swastikas, I suppose.
Posted by: b real | Sep 2 2004 14:25 utc | 65
@alabama
I’ve been chuckling all morning imagining Knight-Ridder et al. publishing your analysis on its various op-ed sections across the country.
I keep seeing jaws dropping and spit-takes over breakfast tables everywhere…
I’d call your attempt an ‘editorial lobotomy’, an attempt at dezombiefication as we head into yet another Night of the Living Dead.
As all that is missing from this prolonged republican rancor/rapture film…is the accidental shooting of a black guy at the end of the flick.
Anybody know if these drugged hoodlums are planning some sacrifices after the curtain goes down?
Posted by: koreyel | Sep 2 2004 15:34 utc | 66
@Kate Storm
thanks for the” war words” link…wasn’t there a linguist named Worf who had a theory that said that language defines the culture, rather than the other way around? If so…..we are deep in it…..or should i say, we have been out flanked by by our own reconnaissance, and unleashed a broadside of friendly fire upon our own position.
Posted by: anna missed | Sep 2 2004 17:26 utc | 67
Koreyel, whatever else may be going on in the minds of Miller and Cheney, one thing comes through very clearly: these men don’t like to lose, and don’t like to be linked to losers. They’ve made careers–and they both said this–of being too smart to lose. But another thing also came through: both men, each in his own way, is rather frightened at the present moment. And why? Because they’re backing a loser. Now it’s a fact that losers are meant to lose–elections, for example–especially when they run against winners–and so the message we got was this: “yes, we’re backing a loser, and no, your winner won’t win”. Which, if it happens (and it certainly can), will happen in one way only: the loser must kill the winner before the race is done. Republicans have been reduced to just this: they may indeed succeed in killing Kerry–all men are mortal, after all–but that doesn’t ease the sting of backing a loser. They’re walking into a hell reserved for assassins–the hell of endless despair.
Posted by: alabama | Sep 2 2004 18:05 utc | 69
anna missed,
It’s the Sapir and Whorf theory … yep.
Wikipedia entry on it and them.
Posted by: Kate_Storm | Sep 2 2004 18:12 utc | 70
a footnote to the above, koreyel: the loser that Miller and Cheney are tied to is a person who doesn’t even know the hazards of the game–his loose and breezy comments of late have been, so to speak, highly unprofessional.
There shouldn’t be a contest, and these guys are utterly risk-aversive. Hardly a year ago their horse was the prohibitive favorite, and now the race is even. This isn’t good for one’s peace of mind–and it gives rise to another question: if Bush should win, what prize would Miller run the risk of accepting? Because it won’t have escaped his notice that all those who take posts under Bush are irreversibly diminished by that appointment…..
Posted by: alabama | Sep 2 2004 18:41 utc | 71
Kate Storm and anna missed: Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897-1941) came up with the unforgettable axiom that it’s easier to kill a language than to change its internal structure.
Posted by: alabama | Sep 2 2004 18:45 utc | 72
With a small (10 – 15) number of completely waterlogged books I applied the following method.
1) Dry books without turning pages as best as possible, using whatever absorbent material available; try and suck as much moisture out as you can, without manipulating the book too much. Some kitchen cleaning cloths are hyper -absorbent.
2) Place book open as if reading on towel in electric oven on the lowest possible setting, with the door fully OPEN. Create draft, fan if have it. I used an electric heater that also ‘blows’ on the coolest setting, placed quite far away. Turn books delicately from time to time. This was in summer, it was in the South, and I didn’t think the very strong sun was a good idea. Perhaps some arrangement with central heating would be Ok too?
3) Wait.
The result was not too bad. The books were intact and readable. The pages of course were not flat and smooth like before. One leather binding cracked, one cover fell off. These were a mixture of regular hardbacks, paperbacks (these did quite well to my surprise) and a few ‘fancier’, older books.
Posted by: Blackie | Sep 2 2004 19:16 utc | 73
With a small (10 – 15) number of completely waterlogged books I applied the following method.
1) Dry books without turning pages as best as possible, using whatever absorbent material available; try and suck as much moisture out as you can, without manipulating the book too much. Some kitchen cleaning cloths are hyper -absorbent.
2) Place book open as if reading on towel in electric oven on the lowest possible setting, with the door fully OPEN. Create draft, fan if have it. I used an electric heater that also ‘blows’ on the coolest setting, placed quite far away. Turn books delicately from time to time. This was in summer, it was in the South, and I didn’t think the very strong sun was a good idea. Perhaps some arrangement with central heating would be Ok too?
3) Wait.
The result was not too bad. The books were intact and readable. The pages of course were not flat and smooth like before. One leather binding cracked, one cover fell off. These were a mixture of regular hardbacks, paperbacks (these did quite well to my surprise) and a few ‘fancier’, older books.
Posted by: Blackie | Sep 2 2004 19:16 utc | 74
The atlantic monthly has some good Iraq columns up at it’s website.
You can Google It.
Posted by: R | Sep 2 2004 19:17 utc | 75
With a small (10 – 15) number of completely waterlogged books I applied the following method.
1) Dry books without turning pages as best as possible, using whatever absorbent material available; try and suck as much moisture out as you can, without manipulating the book too much. Some kitchen cleaning cloths are hyper -absorbent.
2) Place book open as if reading on towel in electric oven on the lowest possible setting, with the door fully OPEN. Create draft, fan if have it. I used an electric heater that also ‘blows’ on the coolest setting, placed quite far away. Turn books delicately from time to time. This was in summer, it was in the South, and I didn’t think the very strong sun was a good idea. Perhaps some arrangement with central heating would be Ok too?
3) Wait.
The result was not too bad. The books were intact and readable. The pages of course were not flat and smooth like before. One leather binding cracked, one cover fell off. These were a mixture of regular hardbacks, paperbacks (these did quite well to my surprise) and a few ‘fancier’, older books.
Posted by: Blackie | Sep 2 2004 19:17 utc | 76
With a small (10 – 15) number of completely waterlogged books I applied the following method.
1) Dry books without turning pages as best as possible, using whatever absorbent material available; try and suck as much moisture out as you can, without manipulating the book too much. Some kitchen cleaning cloths are hyper -absorbent.
2) Place book open as if reading on towel in electric oven on the lowest possible setting, with the door fully OPEN. Create draft, fan if have it. I used an electric heater that also ‘blows’ on the coolest setting, placed quite far away. Turn books delicately from time to time. This was in summer, it was in the South, and I didn’t think the very strong sun was a good idea. Perhaps some arrangement with central heating would be Ok too ?
3) Wait.
The result was not too bad. The books were intact and readable. The pages of course were not flat and smooth like before. One leather binding cracked, one cover fell off. These were a mixture of regular hardbacks, paperbacks (these did quite well to my surprise) and a few ‘fancier’, older books.
Posted by: Blackie | Sep 2 2004 19:19 utc | 77
sorry – but each time typepad told me ‘could not open page’, so I waited and checked (no post appeared) and tried again..
Posted by: Blackie | Sep 2 2004 19:23 utc | 78
Redstate.org on convention “Misfire,” and a lack of party confidence in Bush’s leadership:
…We know, through ample polling data, that the Democratic vote in this election is motivated far more by antagonism to George W. Bush than by love for John Kerry. And we know that the Republican vote is motivated far more by love for George W. Bush than it is antagonism to John Kerry. Curiously, this is not reflected in the respective conventions: the Dems who don’t like Kerry spent their convo lauding him and not mentioning Bush; and the Republicans who do like Bush have spent most of their convention hitherto — well, attacking Kerry. Zell being the apotheosis. Why is this happening?
Slate’s Chris Suellentrop avers that, “[in] violation of the normal rules of politics, this year’s election is a referendum on the challenger rather than a referendum on the incumbent.” But Suellentrop doesn’t quite have it (and Lord knows, he’s getting the purely illusory lack of enthusiasm for Bush here badly wrong) — the GOP may want this election to be a referendum on John Kerry, but that doesn’t mean that it is. The electoral outcome — as with every reelection campaign — will fundamentally reflect the popular judgment on Bush’s leadership. And therein lies the reason for the weird focus on the opposition candidate thus far: there is, on some level, a lack of party confidence in that leadership and its record.
Now, don’t get me wrong: I am of the school that dictates that whatever gripes we have about Bush (and, as a conservative, I assuredly do), Kerry will assuredly be orders of magitude worse. The reasons for this deserve wide exposition and explanation to the American public. But that’s the job for the surrogates, the media personnel, and Red State. It’s not the proper occupation for every major speaker at the convention.
We’ll see what the President has to say tonight. He could turn it around; but as nearly the entire burden of a forward-looking vision for this convention is now on his shoulders, I admit to a creeping fear that a terrible mistake has been made this week at the Garden.
Posted by: Pat | Sep 2 2004 19:29 utc | 79
@alabama….
No doubt. No doubt.
It is sort of a double bind.
But not: I love you…go away.
Rather:
What we have here is a president–whose decisions, by any fair measure of analysis, are simply and undeniably catastrophic failures–being eulogized to high heaven.
How does that effect the integrity of an organism? How does illogic effect a body politic?
Do you have to be on Xanax to say: this shit I smell is really a rose is a really a rose is really a rose?
Or do you instead focus on whatever shreds of truth actually apply:
He is a strong leader.
He is a strong leader.
He is a strong leader.
Perhaps–but one shred hardly reality makes.
When one sits back and watches them jump up and down, and erode their vocal cords with two shreds:
Stong and Unwavering leader…
Stong and Unwavering leader…
Stong and Unwavering leader…
They get quickly into trouble…
Because, I suspect, that even in these republican noggins there is this nagging reality lurking in the back of everyone’s mind:
Wrong and Unwavering…
Wrong and Unwavering…
Wrong and Unwavering…
As someone in another context put it:
This RNC has been nothing but a “volubly industry of denial.”
Which is to say: “How can the republicans have their fake and eat it too?”
Truly…I really wonder at what drugs must be involved to keep this psychologically-ill republican organism limping along.
Posted by: koreyel | Sep 2 2004 19:34 utc | 80
alabama,
Thanks for coming up with that insight to Cheney’s motivation etc. As for Miller, I find his position and personality too fukked up to even consider.
I am a little surprised that you picked Kerry as the candidate for assassination. The logic is OK but it would be oh so messy, and the payoff would be that they’d be stuck with Dub’s liabilities for another term. As long as we’ve broached the whack topic, the favored target is the Dub himself IMO. That could put Dick in the top chair if done right, and all pretense of democracy could be eliminated right away.
This could only work for Cheney if desperation/infighting in the higher echelons has reached a point where it is the best they can hope for in a bad situation gone worse. I am sure that Kerry was chosen as a backup in the event Diebold fails to deliver, and that killing him is not in the plan. Preventing a popular rebellion has got to be in the mix too.
The main drawback to whacking the Dub is that Barb and Poppy would go nuts, and they do have some power, but we know very well that these whackers are creative enough, especially with airplanes, to give us an unfortunate accident if it becomes necessary. Or consider a mad Arabian lone gunman.
The Dub was selected in a year ending in zero, and that alone makes him a prime target. No wonder he looks scared most of the time.
Note to DHS Internet Oversight Committee: In case you didn’t notice, the above is pure hypothesis.
Posted by: rapt | Sep 2 2004 19:42 utc | 81
@Pat
Opening line………
“300 kids are being held by Terrorists tonight…..tears awwwwwwwwwww ”
Has Putin taken the silver?
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Sep 2 2004 20:20 utc | 82
Did anybody mention Iraq at the convention yesterday? Some Iraq links:
An army gone rogue and the tribulations of a journalist in Basra
I asked how he would describe the last couple of weeks in this, third largest, southern city.
“Did you see the movie “Black Hawk Down”? he asked. “It’s been like that.”
French hostages in Iraq handed over: Report
Huge Explosion On Iraq – Turkey Oil Line, Pumping Seriously Affected
Three Turkish hostages killed in Iraq
Two die in Nepal protest against Iraq killings
Rebel cleric must be defeated before his militia regroups, top U.S. commander says
Iraqis face kidnappings away from TV camera
US asks Philippines to reconsider Iraq job ban
Cleric Says It’s Right to Fight U.S. Civilians in Iraq
Posted by: b | Sep 2 2004 21:51 utc | 83
You know…
Once upon a time I used to chide this celebrity worshipping culture of mine by creating enormous imagined incongruities. For example: I once imagined Michael Jordan deciding to auction his underwear for charity.
Today…reality finally caught up to me.
Britney’s used chewing gum sold on eBay
Posted by: koreyel | Sep 2 2004 22:05 utc | 84
Bernhard, in re: wet books. Thank you.
Blackie, in re: wet books. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Posted by: beq | Sep 2 2004 22:07 utc | 85
Dear culture of mine,
Here is another idea I had 20 years ago that you may want to make reality:
Corporate logos tatooed on foreheads.
Hurry…be the first in your neighborhood to have one…
Swoosh….
Posted by: koreyel | Sep 2 2004 22:07 utc | 86
Tin Foil Hat Time.
USA gets the Kurdish Oil.
GB gets the Basra Oil.
Rest of Europe gets Iran Oil.
Terror, old Vladimir Putin has delivered the Crawford Plan?
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Sep 2 2004 22:09 utc | 87
@beq
I’m sorry about the soaked books beq, and other stuff too undoubtedly. You located in Shocko Bottom?
Posted by: rapt | Sep 2 2004 22:30 utc | 88
@Alabama – take a look at T D Allen’s article in this week’s Rolling Stone on the Cheney Curse – it’s a pretty interesting take on his career from failing at Yale to screwing up every position he’s had since … it’s interesting background.
Posted by: Siun | Sep 2 2004 23:53 utc | 89
@ rapt:
Lakeside, another place that got hit. I’ve been in the basement all evening sorting and tossing but consider myself lucky by Shockoe Bottom standards. It was crazy. Out of nowhere and 5 drownings. Now for the hot bubble bath and a tall whiskey and ginger and Blackie, I have books in the oven. I keep reminding myself that at least I don’t live in Fallujah.
Posted by: beq | Sep 3 2004 1:21 utc | 91
From the Agonist:
US, Afghan forces make incursion into Pak territory
Miranshah | September 2
PakTribune – The US and its allied troops here Thursday crossed the border and entered into Pakistani territory North Waziristan Agency and conducted house-to-house search in the rugged area for about four hours.
[Any and every crossing into Pakistan by US forces requires the express approval of the SecDef. There has to be a very compelling reason. They know they’re getting closer, but as for hopes – or dread suspicions – that some astoundingly good breaking news will erupt before the election… well, there’s just not that kind of control over the flow of events – as another story at the Agonist, about the pull-out from Afghanistan of an election-monitoring group, goes to show.]
Posted by: Pat | Sep 3 2004 4:01 utc | 93
Remember when Billmon would open a thread during someone’s testimony or speech?
And then in real time stinging comments would flow? Talk about cutting wit…whew…
It took a certain amount of posters to make that technique zing.
Forget all that chatter about blogs and the net changing journalism. Sure that is true…but…
Those outrageous free-for-alls were really the purest form of smart mobs having their way with truth and democracy.
Bush got let off the hook tonight.
Posted by: koreyel | Sep 3 2004 5:16 utc | 95
@Kate Storm
Thanks for the second link to the Sapir/Whorf overview, now remember reading Whorfs’ book a really long time ago, had a little thing for linguistics at one time. Also and aside, once had a girlfriend who worked for Charles E Osgood (the psycholinguist) at the U of Ill. Osgood claimed for years that the CIA was tailing him and his research, everyone just thought he was nutty and a little paranoid. Years latter (81or so) it was discovered by him that the CIA had indeed had not only been tailing him, but had been funding (through a phony endowments and grants) most of his research for a decade. Ha Ha you never know.
Posted by: anna missed | Sep 3 2004 5:36 utc | 96
Here is Bob Herberts opening paragraph:
When asked this week on CNN how long the U.S. military is likely to remain in Iraq, Senator John McCain replied “probably” 10 or 20 years. “That’s not so bad,” he said, adding, “We’ve been in Korea for 50 years. We’ve been in West Germany for 50 years.”
Gotta love it.
Looks like if we can vote these guys in for another 4 the Iraq mess will easily go to a couple trillion.
I think we are 200 billion now. Vietnam was only 150 billion. So really we are on a pretty good pace.
Hopefully that first trillion will force another 2 or 3 million americans to fall beneath the poverty line.
And of course you noticed that Greenspan is doing a good job of softening up the sheeple for not being able to retire until they turn 80.
Hopefully, the first trillion spent on Iraq will make Greenspan’s vision a reality. Personally, I don’t think the sheeple will complain to much. I mean really, flipping burgers beats staying home and watching morning tv. And you know, giving up a few more years of your life…well…it is all for the good of the country right?
Things are really looking bright right now. We got the sheeple right where we want them.
George, Dick, Zell…keep up the good work boys…ya’all got my vote.
Posted by: koreyel | Sep 3 2004 6:03 utc | 97
Hey all, sorry I have been out of circulation lately — don’t even have time to read this whole thread but will try to catch up to it over the weekend. meanwhile…
@teuton you are right about the RNC being “children’s TV.” the inimitable rgiap put it very well recently over at the to-be-Speakeasy: “a happy mutual infantilism.” from Zell’s tantrum to Ahnold’s sentimental schlockfest combined with fag-baiting, the whole thing is high-school culture applied to politics.
‘cos the spinmeisters calculate that the average mental age of Americans is now — thanks to all that media saturation that you think should make us so savvy — about 15. this makes me crazy. what makes me even crazier is that they appear to be right.
scariest line from the RNC teletubbies festival, imho, was the one about “it is the soldier who guarantees freedom of the press, not the journalist.” I know everyone’s sick and tired of the historical analogies but I can’t resist reminding the world at large that the fetishisation of the military, aka soldier-worship, is a central component of most of the totalitarian ideologies (and their public theatre) of the last century.
jeez, all the laundry is hanging out at the RNC, ain’t it — the cult of self-conscious, nervous masculinity meets the cult of death and pretty flags. same as it ever was, same as it ever was, and despite being a non-drinking type person I feel like I need a drink…
Kerry comes out swinging……?
“…”For the past week, they attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as commander in chief,” Kerry said. “We’ll, here’s my answer. I’m not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq.”
Posted by: RossK | Sep 3 2004 8:25 utc | 99
DeAnanderbut I can’t resist reminding the world at large that the fetishisation of the military, aka soldier-worship, is a central component of most of the totalitarian ideologies (and their public theatre) of the last century … jeez, all the laundry is hanging out at the RNC, ain’t it — the cult of self-conscious, nervous masculinity meets the cult of death and pretty flags. same as it ever was, same as it ever was…”
Well put! As to the drinking … it doesn’t work as well as we might have it work. Diminishing returns and all that.
Posted by: Kate_Storm | Sep 3 2004 14:30 utc | 100