Billmon:

Does six months in Afghanistan equal one "Friedman," or does failure in a different country require a different name?

Time Zones

Billmon:

And a great big Philadelphia fuck you to Rush Limbaugh.

Fly Like an Eagle

Billmon:

II. At the Crossroads

I. Adult Books

The discussion within the U.S. foreign policy establishment on the future of Iraq has come to a conclusion. The U.S. will, now officially, work to dissolve the Iraqi nation and state into three independend statelets under a powerless sham national government and, of course, total U.S. control.

The current version of the idea was first floated back in May by Senator Biden and Leslie Gelb, both Democrats, in a NYT oped.

Cont. reading: Iraq’s Partition

Billmon:

Deer Season

There is much reference in every conservative agenda to "small government". The fact of life is this: If you need a service, someone will have to pay for it.

The question is thereby not about "small government".

If the agreed upon needed service is to move 6 tons of whatever from a A to B, someone has to pay to move 6 tons from A to B. The kilowatts to do that are a physical constant.

There is NO inherent reason why a government could not move the 6 tons from A to B at the same price, or even cheaper, than a non-government organization. Bad public management? – ask Enron.

Unlike a commercial company, a government does not have to make a profit margin. It does not have have to pay a "rent". It can thereby calculate and deliver a service at a lower price than any commercial enterprise.

The whole "privatization" stuff is thereby just a way to enrich the well connected (and bribing) folks who already "have". It is never about the people who need.

When will this be understood?

Billmon:

As I think everybody but David Broder now understands, the conventions of he said, she said journalism aren’t designed to deal with the tactics of modern information warfare.

Hirohito Watch

In the November issue of Mother Jones magazine Laura Rozen asks: Has Washington found its Iranian Chalabi?

The piece is about Amir-Abbas Fakhravar, an Iranian dissident.

I had contacted Laura this summer after she had mentioned Fakhravar on her blog and in a Washington Post Outlook piece. In May I had become suspicious of this figure, collected some materials and asked: Is Fakhravar A Fraud?

Laura was not convinced then, though a few weeks later she had looked into it, wrote back and agreed with my cautious "yes".
Turns out Fakhravar is even a double-fraud. Now Laura writes:

Cont. reading: Double-Fraud

News, views or whatever crosses your mind …

Billmon:

Nir Rosen is a Mensch

Billmon:

How I’m Feeling at the Moment

"Pie In The Sky"
photo by
anna missed
—

House prices in U S metropolitan areas may decline by more than 10 percent in the months and years ahead as higher borrowing costs hurt demand, a study by a Moody’s Corp. unit shows.
…
The median home price in the United States next year may fall for the first time since the Great Depression, according to Gabriel Stein, chief international economist at Lombard Street Research in London.
…
The housing boom lifted the US median home price by 49 percent in the five years ended in 2005, according to the Chicago-based National Association of Realtors. That added to the net worth of homeowners and creating a so-called wealth effect that spurred spending as homeowners refinanced and took on more mortgage debt.
Report sees double-digit declines in home prices

Billmon:

IV. Whopper

—

The man from Palm Beach was, to use the corporate parlance, a cash cow, in the sense that he consistently raised more money than he needed for his own races, and passed the surplus along to the party […].
Always the dollars. Always the fuckin’ dollars.

III. Always the Dollars

II. A Fresh Perpective

I. Services Rendered

Billmon:

Maybe they can get Allen to stuff a deer head in the kid’s mail box — just for old time’s sake.

IV. Civility

III. In the Wardrobe

II. Another Hirohito Moment

—

[T]he longer this story goes on, and the more that comes to light about the delicate compromise that has allowed the bund and the American Taliban to coexist on Capitol Hill for going on three decades now, the more likely it is that the Republican Party, or the Christian fundamentalist movement, or both, will be turned into pillars of salt come November.

I. The Lavender Bund

Billmon:

The objective here isn’t to convince the public, much less the corporate media, that the GOP House leadership is the victim of a fiendishly clever Jewish . . .um, I mean, liberal conspiracy. Rove isn’t that stupid. This is about getting the conservative faithful to go out and die for their emperor (but not before they help with the GOTV drive in November).

It’s very familiar technique: You try to convince the troops (if they aren’t convinced already) that the enemy is a foul, subhuman brute who will rape and kill your women, then skin your children and eat them alive. Better to die on your feet than your knees, etc. This, roughly, is the persona the wingnut sphere has created for Soros.

Ten Thousand Years

Billmon:

III. Family Values

II. State of Siege

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I know it’s a grisly, disgusting scene, but that’s just the way the food chain works in the cyber ecosystem: The predators kill the prey and eat their fill, then leave the remains for the scavengers — hyenas, vultures, maggots — to pick over.
You could think of it as the political equivalent of a nature documentary.

I. Call of the Wild

Billmon:

Mr. Howards should consider himself lucky he didn’t get a shotgun blast in the face.

Mistaken Identity

Billmon:

He may be right: With the reptiles spread out all over God’s country, and about a dozen guys thinking this is their main chance — maybe their only chance — to play the alpha chimp (or at least move up a couple of rungs on the monkey house ladder) the whole thing could easily turn into a simian free for all. The Capitol Hill cops might have to send in Jane Goodall with a tranquilizer gun.

But the pretense that this is about anything other than power — personal and collective — has pretty much been sandblasted away, …

It’s About the Power, Stupid

News & views …

Billmon:

Silly Minds Think Alike