If it doesn’t fit elsewhere, please drop it here …
May 18, 2006
OT 06-43
WB: Land of Goshen
Billmon:
There is, of course, a slight, but not quite negligible, chance I will be the intentional or accidental target of a terrorist attack. Sharm el-Sheikh, you may recall, was bombed last July, and another resort just up the coast was hit a few weeks ago. However, I’ve always understood that my chances of getting killed on I-95 on my way to work each morning are vastly higher than the odds of falling victim to terrorism, even in the Middle East.
WB: The Wonders of Science
Billmon:
WB: In Cold Blood
Billmon:
There is a wiff of genocide in the air, and not just in Iraq. While the keyboard warriors still talk in slightly coded terms about waging war with the "ferocity" required to win, some of the real warriors aren’t bothering to conceal what those terms really mean. A few days ago I came across a diary at Daily Kos (can’t find it now) in which the diarist relayed the gist of his recent conversation with a Marine Corporal — an MP, of all things, currently stationed at Quantico — who was eager to get to Iraq so he could "kill some sand niggers."
WB: Rump States
Billmon:
"Only residents of Utah, Wyoming and Idaho view the president favorably."
WB: Sixteen Steps and a Stumble
Billmon:
[I]f the commodity bubble and the housing bubble both deflate at the same time, and economic growth slows and the Fed takes too many quarter-point stutter steps (or has taken too many already) then things are probably about to go from bad to worse to really rotten, at least as far as the overwhelming majority of American consumers and workers are concerned. And if they’re unhappy (I mean really unhappy) the stock market isn’t likely to get much joy out of life either.
May 17, 2006
WB: Lawyer Jokes
Billmon:
New Video
The administration has released what is said to be two security camera’s videos of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. Says the Washington Post:
This is video released by the Pentagon of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. Watch carefully as a plane enters the video from the right.
Watching carefully, I don´t see a plane entering the video. I don´t see a plane at all.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the group sought the videos to rebut conspiracy theories, which have circulated widely on the Internet, that the Pentagon was hit by a missile or a small plane.
That attempt was not successful.
So why exactly were these videos not released four and a half years ago?
WB: Non-Native Son
Billmon:
So the brown invaders crossing "our" border and daring to demonstrate in "our" streets have become the new Islamofascists — the necessary enemy of the moment.
May 16, 2006
WB: Pretzel Logic
Billmon:
WB: Plumber’s Helper
Billmon:
The real lesson of Watergate is that the two phenomena — national security absolutism and good old-fashioned political ratfucking — are joined at the skull, like inseparable Siamese twins. You can’t have one without the other, particularly in a system that is otherwise designed to prevent the kind of radical accumulation of power the Nixon and Bush II White Houses represent.
May 15, 2006
WB: Fools and Liars
Billmon:
If the House Dems are serious about fishing for impeachable offenses (assuming they get control of the fishing rod this November) they could pick a worse place to start — for Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld, I mean. For Shrub, though, I think they’re going to have look elsewhere. The problem is that in the end, no matter where they look, they’re probably going to run up against the Nuremberg defense — he was only following orders.
May 14, 2006
WB: Main Course?
Billmon:
Other Topics
If you don´t comment here Cheney wins.
WB: Market Update
Billmon:
The Dems have an collective obligation to fight the coming campaign to the best of their ability, and, if they win, to use their victories to advance the policies that they believe are best for the country. If that means giving the Rovians a target, so be it.
May 13, 2006
WB: Vox Pollsteri
Billmon:
It defeats the purpose of having a 4th Amendment if its validiity is entirely dependent on breaking 50% in the latest poll.
…
What the government is doing is illegal and unamerican, and that would still be true if the polls showed 99% support — in fact, it would be even more true.
WB: Leviathan
Billmon:
We can argue all we want that the deal is a sham, that any sense of security is an illusion, and that having gobbled up their privacy and some of their liberty, Leviathan will only come looking for more, because that’s all it knows how to do. But an awfully large number of our fellow citizens have already decided, or have been conditioned to believe, that it’s better to be subjects and let others make the hard decisions for them. After all, the organization must have its reasons.
Immigrant Terrorist Threat
The major papers report on Bush’s new push on immigration, including the use of the National Guard beyond their local states to seal the southern borders.
The appropriate police training was completed during their time in Iraq. After a short run as border guards, they will be ready for their stind as campus police. We have seen that before.
Of course part of this is just a diversion from other issues. But I think Karl Rove is also playing a distinct card in the poker game of the coming election. It is called racism.
Fox news is already calling for more white babies. The fringe right will extend that theme, the evangelicals will join in and OpEd writers will rally the masses.
The endangered white men will take the up his burden, follow the repubs flag and fight this existential threat.
The arab terrorist boogie man has lost a bit of effectiveness. The immigrant terrorist threat is the choosen successor.
Watch your back.
WB: Ventriloquist Act
Billmon:
The dummy doesn’t look very realistic, though.
May 12, 2006
Phone Poll
ring, ring – ring, ring
Hello?
Good evening Mrs. Answer. We are conducting a very short poll for the Washington Post. It will only take 5 minutes of your time. Would you please have the courtesy to answer these few question?
Oh another poll, I just took my pills and was ready to go to bed.
Please Mrs. Answer, it is really very very short and you know it’s for the very important Washington Post paper that did this Watergate investigation. I am sure you will remember that.
Oh yes, yes I do remember that one. They buged some party offices back then, didn´t they. Well, okay. I’m tired. Why don´t you just start.
Have you heard of todays reports about the National Security Agency collecting information about all phone calls inside the United States?
Oh no, I have not heared that. What paper is doing that again?
No, not a paper. The NSA. The National Security Agency is doing this phone call collection program.
You mean, they are listening to us on the phone? Right now?
No. Ahemm. No, that is – I don´t know. But why would they be interested in a poll call like this. So no Mrs. Answer, I don´t think they are listening to us.
Now, could I ask you the few questions right away?
Oh, oh, you mean you don´t know – ahh – ahem – ahh – Yes, I mean sure yes, s_u_ r_e, s_u_r_ e.
Okay. No 1,
The National Security Agency has a program to collect information on telephone
calls made in the United States in an effort to identify and investigate potential terrorist threats.Do you strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree with such a program.
I ahh I don´t know, I ahh, I agree I think, you know ahh yes ahem yes ahh I strongly agree – do you listen? I strongly agree with that program.
…
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TIA Automated Intercept Report – 05/12/06 11:23pm – detected keyword relevance level: high – keywords detected: "investigate", "National Security", "NSA", "pills", "terrorist", "threats", "Washington Post", "Watergate" – call attendees elevated to surveilence level 2 – end TIA